by Stephanie Andino
You have been working on a paper for months now and you feel like the words are just jumbled on the screen in front of you. You have been staring at the same words for what seems like too long, so what do you do? Do you power through? Do you close your laptop and come back to it later? Both of these are great options, but another option is to have a new set of eyes look at your paper, this process is called peer-reviewing. This is something that I think should be done with all papers. When you spend too much time looking at your own work, you tend to glaze over glaring issues, and another pair of eyes can be useful to bring attention to things you overlooked.
So how do you pick who to look at your work? It needs to be someone who is trustworthy and who you know will give honest feedback. You don’t want someone who is going to quickly skim your paper. There are two options for a good peer reviewer:
First, someone who you can bounce ideas off of and cultivate your topics. Someone who understands what you are covering in your paper.
Second, someone who you know will still put time and effort into reading your paper, but someone who does not have a background in what you are writing about. By doing this, you are able to double check the clarity of your writing. The saying “if you can’t explain something simply, then you don’t fully understand it” holds true in this instance.
Cultivating a community is essential in order to complete your education, and this is just one example of the benefits. If you are going through college, you will inevitably need someone to lean on, and it is important to create this support system as early as possible. In the context of peer reviewing each other’s writing, being trustworthy within the community that you build is essential because not only are you relying on this community for relevant feedback, but you are also going to receive constructive criticism. You need a critical eye to be able to tell you about the flaws in your writing in order to make it great.
In conclusion, if you are stuck in your writing have someone look at it with a fresh set of eyes. Someone who will tell it to you straight.
