Peer Review for Beginners
At a Glance
Discipline
- Languages and Literature
Instructional Level
- College & CEGEP
Course
- Introduction to College English 603-101-MQ (can be used in any Eng.class)
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Group
Type of Tasks
- Reviewing & assessing peers
Technical Details
Useful Technologies
- Teams (shared folder students can upload and download from)
- Mio or email
Class size
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Multiple class periods (2-3 classes)
Inclusivity & Accessibility
- Diversity of engagement
Instructional Purpose
- Assessment & knowledge refinement
- Consolidation & metacognition
Overview
In this activity, students give and receive feedback on the draft of a major essay. The aim is not only to provide students with actionable information about how they can improve their essays, but also to guide them through the process of revising for higher-order concerns, so that they can become autonomous in their revision process in subsequent courses. Guided by questions developed by the teacher, students write their feedback directly on their peers’ drafts outside of class; then, the feedback is shared orally in class in groups of 4-5, with each student giving feedback to everyone else, one at a time. Peer learning is at the heart of this activity, and the teacher’s role is mostly to correct misconceptions or to offer suggestions that enrich the student feedback. It is best suited for the end of the semester, after students have had enough writing practice that they can give informed feedback. This activity devotes about 10 minutes of class time to each student, so a group of 4 would take 40 minutes of class time.
Instructional Objectives
- Identify thesis statements in peers’ essays.
- Assess the quality of literary arguments
- Apply essay writing best practices
- Express evaluative statements in a constructive manner
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
- Students receive feedback that is validated by several peers and by the teacher
- Students’ understanding of good writing practices is enhanced when they see what their peers can do.
- Students also gain more understanding of the writing process by giving feedback to their peers.
- Some students don’t prepare ahead of time and assume that the essays are read in class. Emphasize that they must read everything before class and come prepared, and make it a criterion if you evaluate the workshop.
- Students are often reluctant to offer criticism to their peers. To jumpstart the workshop, I ask for elements that are descriptive (such as identifying the thesis) before moving on to evaluative questions.
- To keep everyone actively participating, facilitate the workshop in a systematic way, asking for everybody’s input instead of relying on one or two active talkers.
- This activity takes up a significant amount of class time (a group of 40 students will use up three to four periods of two hours). The benefit of an in-depth feedback session overrides the instruction time lost if students participate well. This is worth emphasizing to them.
- Give sufficient time for review between the deadline for submission and the workshop (I suggest at least 48 hours; 72 is better).
- Because workshop sessions take place in small groups, students will not have to come to class while other workshops are scheduled. Make sure they have another useful activity to work on during this time (for example, in my class students use this time to work on their group presentations.)
- Remind students that they should take notes when their essay is being workshopped. They should remain silent and not explain what they were trying to do.
- I have noted no benefit to providing students with my own written feedback after this activity; instead, the teacher should have feedback prepared to help weigh in on disagreements and intervene when there are misconceptions.
- To fully draw from the benefits of the conversation, emphasize that the papers need to be printed and annotated individually. The student should leave the workshop with several different copies of their own paper.
- If you assess feedback, no need to collect a copy of what the students write. It will be clear from the discussion who has done the work. You can also see who has handwritten notes when you sit in a circle.
Applied Strategies
Published: 03/03/2025
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