SQR 2

Estevan Trejo
ENG 1301.28
Trang Phan
09/13/2010

Summary – Peer Response: Teaching Specific Revision Strategies
All too often are vague responses such as, “I like what you wrote here” and “I think you should change this part”, thrown around when students critique each other’s literary work. It seems to be very difficult for students to both give and receive useful writing feedback. Thanks to a new revision strategy known as Praise/Question/Polish, or PQP, many teachers are hoping to change that (Neubert 52). PQP is a technique designed to help students focus on the task at hand as well as maintain a positive mental attitude towards the critiquing process in general (52). During the group feedback sessions, students take turns reading their papers out loud as the others follow on copies (52). The students listening must form specific revision suggestions for the writer by using the P/Q/P response guide (52). They must first praise the writing, finding out what they think shouldn’t be changed or what is good about the particular piece (52). Second, they question it, seeing what is not exactly clear for the reader to understand (52). Finally, they polish their peer’s paper, pointing out any unnecessary or extra information that may be in the writing (52). When this particular revision technique is used effectively, students are able to give substantial revision suggestions that almost always improve the writing.

Question: Why “Peer Response”? What can peers’ comments do for ones writing?

Response:
Peer response is a revision technique currently being utilized by a growing number of student writers. It involves the writer grouping up with his or her peers and allowing them to critique the writing in a beneficial way (Neubert 52). One of the factors that peer response relies on in order to work effectively is the students critiquing must give specific revision suggestions, rather than vague or general ones (53). When done correctly, peer response groups help writers improve their papers tremendously. Just last week, I was involved in a peer response activity in which my paper was being critiqued by my fellow classmates. By the end of the session, the group was able to give me great advice on things such as what to add, what not to change, and how to make my ideas a bit more clear. It was, overall, a very positive experience for me. One in which I was able to see my paper in a different light so that I could make the appropriate improvements. I truly feel that peer response groups should be taken advantage of as a way to better one’s writing skills. Peer response offers the writer a chance to both receive and incorporate constructive criticism in the classroom, skills which come in handy quite often during the course of one’s academic career.