Peer Review Blog (Sunday)

I only had the chance to peer review Jason’s AP draft because my other peers' draft was not done on connect. Jason’s Advocacy Essay focuses on the mistreatment of wolves. In addition, his Literature Review specifically discusses the social behavior of wolves and their interactions between adults, pups, and other animals. Jason’s organization, structure, research, and persuasion were great. The research was clearly evident throughout his essay. There were citations and sources integrated all over his essay and they all followed proper MLA format. I personally did not find any paragraphs where Jason did not include any sources. Some advice that I gave , regarding structure, was to include a conclusion in both the LR and Problem Section. I felt that the ending of both sections were abrupt and I think it may be more effective to create a conclusion paragraph that would transition into the next section. I also gave some advice about the Title, “Wolf Advocacy Essay”. I commented that although the title is clear and concise I thought it would be more effective if they added some information that included the specific advocacy issue or the topic of the LR.

The first Peer Review assignment of this course was “Why Birds Matter”. We were given a structure to follow such as “I never thought about…” . I found these structured sentences very helpful in the beginning of the class, but as the class progressed I felt more comfortable and natural giving feedback. Some advice that I remember is when someone recommended that I elaborate on the connection between his Big 3 sources. This is something that I struggled on in the draft and I used this advice in my revision. Lastly, there was no advice that I thought was wrong or confused me.

Before Writing 39C I never really had the chance to Peer Review my other classmates' work. So when this class started I was not really comfortable with giving advice to my peers. At first I was also unconfident if I was giving quality advice to my peers. However, while the course progressed and more peer review assignments were assigned I became more and more comfortable. Peer Review has been extremely helpful while revising my Literature Review essay. Before this course I would only receive advice from teachers, however I have learned that advice given by my peers are just as valuable. Peer Review also made me self aware of my own mistakes. Overall, this class has definitely changed my perception of Peer Review and I plan to utilize this strategy in my future classes.