Spring 2004

English 101.10 -- Language and Composition I

Peer Response

Peer responses in English 101 have two parts. For the first part, you will write 2-3 questions for your responders to answer. For the second part, responders can mention any other issues or questions they think are important.

Peer Response Questions

Writing 2-3 questions that direct your responders' attention to areas of the paper where you could use feedback will help you to become a more reflective problem-solver about your own writing, and it will assist your peers by letting them know what feedback you want. It also lessens your responders' concern about hurting your feelings, because this method allows them to join with you in attempting to resolve a question or problem that you have already identified.

Avoid asking questions that can be answered with a 'yes' or a 'no', since these shut down discussion of your paper and tend not to generate useful feedback from your responders. Instead, ask questions that identify a specific area or issue you are concerned about in your paper, and that invite responders to share thoughts or make suggestions.

Avoid vague, yes/no questions like these:

1. Does my paper flow well?

2. Is my grammar correct?

3. Does my paper make sense?

Instead, ask specific, response generating questions like the following:

1. After talking about the history of the Animal Rights movement, my paper shifts to primarily focusing on animal shelters. Something about that shift in the paper seems abrupt to me. How might I rework that part of my paper?

3. In your own words, tell me what understanding of the topic you get from reading my paper. Which points convince you the most and which convince you the least (and why?) What points do you disagree with or anticipate other readers disagreeing with?

[Save questions about editing for 'copy editing' days that are set aside especially for the purpose of addressing proofreading issues, and keep peer responses on early drafts focused on the content of the paper. If someone has punctuation or grammar issues that prevent you from being able to make sense of their paper or that really confuse you, then address those after answering their other questions.]

You should get responses from at least 2-3 other class members for each paper.

When giving responses, try to avoid evaluating the paper ["This is a good paper" etc.] and instead focus on responding to it. Evaluation makes a judgment about the paper, while response provides your reactions, thoughts, and questions about what you have read in a way that invites conversation with the writer about the topic of the paper. Response is more likely to be useful when revising a paper than evaluation.