Remember that you should always bring copies of your draft on days when we're doing peer work on papers. You should bring one copy of your paper for each member of your group (including yourself) and bring a copy of your paper on a floppy disk just in case more copies are necessary.
Group Logistics:
· Your group should follow a regular routine for peer work:
· Distribute and discuss the essays one at a time
· The writer should briefly discuss his/her main concerns, and
then read the entire draft out loud
· The readers should write comments on their drafts while the writer
is reading his/her work
· After the writer has finished reading, he/she should give the
readers 1-2 minutes to write down additional comments and questions
· Discussion should begin with the few questions the writer posed
before reading
· During the discussion, the writer should take careful notes--it's
really frustrating to get home and say to yourself "I know Anya made
some great comments, but I can't remember them."
· Spend a minute or two at the end of the discussion talking with
your readers about how you plan to revise your paper
Try to spend about 18-20 minutes per draft (about 1 hour all told). Your group should take about that long to work through the drafts, but if you finish a little bit early, start revising based on your discussion with your group.
The Writer's Responsibilities:
Come to the meeting with several specific concerns/questions for the class
about your draft. Explain to the group any concerns or questions you have
about your paper before you begin to read. Are you concerned, for example,
about whether your thesis is clear? Whether your organization is logical?
Whether you have enough evidence to support one of your points? Always
write down this list of questions/concerns before you come to the meeting.
After talking about your draft with your group briefly, read your draft
slowly and carefully. After giving the group a minute or two to finish
jotting down notes, begin the discussion by asking the group to address
the concerns you discussed with them before you began your reading. Then
open the floor for additional questions/comments from the group.
Be open to suggestions. Although you're not required to incorporate every suggestion your group makes, you should at least understand their comments and concerns. If you don't understand what your group members are saying about your draft, ask them to clarify or give you an example. If you decide not to take a group member's suggestion, you should have a good reason for doing so (such as that following the suggestion would cause you to broaden your topic beyond the scope of the paper, for instance).
The Readers' Responsibilities
Follow along as the draft is read aloud, paying special attention to the
concerns the writer has voiced. Take notes on your copy of the draft,
circling or underlining sections of the draft you find particularly confusing,
well-written, or weak, so that you'll be able to refer back to them during
your discussion.
Offer both positive and negative criticism. Starting the session by giving the author positive reinforcement on what is working well in the paper is extremely important, both so that he or she knows where the paper is in good shape and so that you provide an atmosphere in which the author can take the constructive criticism well. Don't shy away from telling the writer what should be working better though. It's your job as a reader to offer honest and specific responses to the draft so that it can realize its potential as a strong piece of writing; otherwise, we're just all wasting our time.
Try to have a conversation with the writer about your reactions to the draft (where it amused, confused, intrigued, or persuaded you), rather than just jumping in and telling the writer what he/she should have done. Your role as the reader is to give the writer a live audience whose responses help the writer understand which parts of the draft are successful and which parts need to be concentrated on in the revision.
Ask questions!
A good strategy can be to offer to paraphrase particular parts of the draft so that the writer can hear how you, the reader, have understood what he or she was trying to say. This is especially helpful in early drafts of the paper.
Finally, make sure the writer understands not only how the piece of writing affected you, but also what, in concrete terms, he/she might do to make the writing even more effective. At the end of the session, if help the writer to brainstorm a plan for revising if necessary.
