The Writing Place 

Room 2304 University Library, North Tower, Second Floor
Phone: (847) 467-2791 || E-mail: writingplace@northwestern.edu
The Writing Place is a service of the WCAS Writing Program, Northwestern University.

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How to Get the Most out of Peer Responses to your Writing

Asking a friend to take a look at a piece of writing can be valuable. Some instructors make peer response part of their courses, either in or out of class.

One of the most innovative and effective ways of working on your writing is to form a group of people who agree to meet regularly to discuss each other's writing. However, using peer responses takes a bit of practice, as well as some consensus from everyone involved about activities and expectations.

General guidelines for sharing your work with others:

• Make sure they're willing to read your paper and share their responses.
• Ask for what you want. Whether you want general impressions of your main idea, specific attention to grammar and spelling etc., tell your reader what would be most helpful to know.
• When listening to comments, don't jump in to argue with your reader. Listen and pay attention first: you can decide what to do with their comments later. It's your writing--you're still in control of what you'll change and what you won't.
• Use your readers' suggestions appropriately. Don't turn in someone else's words and ideas as your own--that's plagiarism.
• If you ask someone to read your writing, be prepared to do the same for them in return.

Suggestions for setting up a writing group:

• Assemble a group of people who have something in common: a major, a course, the kind of writing they're doing, etc.
• Keep the group fairly small, at first.
• Set reasonable limits on length.
• Make a commitment to meeting on a regular basis.
• Set rules on the kinds of comments you give each other: no slams or insults. Don't discuss someone else's writing outside of the group.
• Make sure everyone gets a chance to have their work read.