Final Exam Frame #2.

Many people think of writing as an activity that should be totally independent and personal. It is not like there is any use for someone to read a persons written work and comment on their works based on their own opinion. There is absolutely no way that that could help out the writer, right? I would have to disagree one hundred percent on that logic. According to Optimism One, “the writing process can be greatly improved if students have a group of peers with whom they can share their writing.” Optimism One claims that having other people read a persons work will do nothing but help that writer out. One of the reasons he states is that, “If they [the reader] don’t agree or have trouble understanding, so much the better as long as their minds are not closed.” Basically the writer is saying that if peer-review is done correctly, the only thing it can do is benefit the writer. I agree with that idea because my experience in Writing 101 has proved to me that having others read a piece work before it is published can only help the writer to make the writing stronger.

My experience in Writing 101 has definitely matched up with what Optimism One thinks about why writing should be read by others. In Writing 101 all of my assignments were posted to a website, blogger.com. On blogger, I can connect with all the other students in my class. There were many times during the quarter that we did peer-review/edits on other students’ blogs. All we had to do was leave comments on their blogs about their work. All the peer-review only helped me become a stronger writer. I know that blogger was a life saver during this class because all the peer-review that I received helped my writing improve. Peer-review in general is an amazing thing because there are so many ways that it can help a writer.

I know that it is not uncommon for someone to write a sentence or phrase that makes perfect sense in the writers head, but does not make any sense in the readers mind. This is one thing that peer-review helps writers overcome. There are many different viewpoints in a class, and when someone doesn’t understand or agree with what is said in your essay, it is very beneficial to receive that peers’ reasoning as to why. That is because if something is confusing or controversial, the writer will now know that they need more support or evidence to back up what they are saying and make it clear at the same time. Another advantage to peer-review is when we begin to debate about why it is hard to understand, it gives the writer the chance to see where the reader is coming from. That then give the writer an opportunity to fix whatever is confusing, and in effect the piece of writing will be much better because it will connect to the reader more. After the piece has been finalized, it is still a good thing to have someone read it. I believe this because by gauging their reaction, the writer will have the ability to tell if their writing did what they meant it to do. It is a good way to know that the writing is as strong as possible. Although peer-review is an excellent resource, there is always the downside to it.

One of these downsides that affected me in my Writing 101 class was that some of the peer-reviews did nothing for me. Some of the review was garbage; all it did was take up space. It could either be that the reader did not really bother to read my work, or they had their minds closed. When someone has their minds closed, there is no way that that person can give constructive criticism because more often than not they won’t even discuss the topic with you. Although that rarely happened, it did happen. But the advantages of peer-review far outweigh the disadvantages. In all honesty, I do not think I would have done as well in Writing 101 if I had not been given the opportunity for all the peer-review and discussions that I received.