Peer review is a core activity in most writing classrooms, and it is also typical in a wide range of workplaces. Thoughtful writers always seek feedback from others in order to help them revise and improve a text. If you develop your skills as a peer reviewer, you will become a highly valued classmate and colleague.

Peer review demands concentrated attention. It is a difficult task to read a text written by someone else and offer suggestions that will result in real improvement. You need to understand the writer’s purpose at a deep level and assess how well that purpose is achieved. You then need to offer comments that are constructive and that the writer can use to improve the text.

The purpose of peer review is to help the writer improve the effectiveness of a text, not to correct the text for the writer. It is not the same as editing or proofreading. The best time to use peer review is when a writer is still open to change—change in ideas, in the shape of the argument, in the selection and use of evidence, in the organization and structure of the text and its paragraphs. Writers also need help with editing for correctness and proofreading a text, but that comes at a later stage in the writing process.

Peer reviews will be effective if writers and reviewers follow certain practices:

The writer’s role in peer review

The reviewer’s role in peer review

Student draft with peer review comments