Blog Post #3

Peer editing is one thing that I have a lot of experience with since I have picked English as my subject area. After watching these videos and looking at the slide show, I have realized that there are some things I need to make sure to remember when editing someone else's paper.

I think that one of the most important parts of peer editing is making sure to leave compliments on your peers' work instead of just criticism. If all you do is leave negative comments on someone's work, it will only discourage them when they continue writing. Being specific when telling the author how to improve their work is important. Giving him or her specific ways on how to improve is more productive than just saying something like "this paragraph needs work." When editing someone's paper, we need to keep in mind that there is a right and wrong way to give criticism. This goes back to giving compliments on someone's paper. Making sure not to be rude when making comments is important. We have to keep in mind that this is someone's paper that they worked hard on, so being rude is unnecessary. Also, since this is someone else's work, we have to be sure not to be pushy with our suggestions. Trying to change someone's paper is not what peer editing is about.