The document discusses the benefits of peer editing for improving writing. It notes that writers often know their topics too well to judge whether their writing is clear to new readers. Peer editing allows writers to get feedback from others on whether their writing is appropriate, organized, and easy to understand. The document also states that peer editing helps prepare writers for having their work reviewed in professional settings. It provides tips for both peer editors and writers, emphasizing the importance of honest but constructive feedback to strengthen writing.

1. PEER
EDITING
September 2015
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2. Knowing Your Topic
Too Well
• Few writers can rely on their own judgement to
know whether something they've written is clear to
someone else. For one thing, by the time we finish
writing anything, we usually know a lot about the
topic. We know it too well to tell whether it would
be clear to someone who is reading about it for the
first time.
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3. Peer Editing Helps
Peer editing sessions give writers an opportunity to find
out what their writing looks like to someone else.
Reviewers can help you discover whether what you've
written is:
• appropriate to your purpose and intended reader
• organized so that it's easy to follow
• clear, concise and easy to read
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4. Real World Application
Peer editing will also help you get used to having
others review your work. In most government
workplaces, it's very common to be asked either to
provide your work in draft form for others to review or
to review draft documents written by others. In either
case, it's useful to know what works best.
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5. When you are
the reader…
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6. Always read through a
piece twice
• Use your first time through just to get familiar with
the piece. Your second reading is your opportunity
to really try to understand what is being said and
how. If you still aren't sure after two readings, the
writer needs to know.
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7. Take the role of the
intended reader
• What writers need most is someone who will read in
the same way as the intended reader will—that is,
someone who is reading for content not for errors.
The most valuable editing advice concerns content,
organization and style. Peer editors whose only
comments are about punctuation, mechanics or
spelling may help the writer write a more correct
piece of writing, but it still may not be clear or
engaging.
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8. Avoid "fixing" the
problem
• Your role as peer editor is not to fix the problems
you find but to bring them to the writer's attention.
Do not take on the writer's work as your own. The
biggest help you can offer is to point out what
works and doesn't work for you as a reader. You
may circle spelling or grammatical errors you find
but don’t correct them for the writer.
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9. Be honest but
constructive
• It can be hard to say what you really think about a
piece of writing. It's often tempting to say "Looks fine
to me," but your writer will learn nothing from the
exercise. A good approach is to start by telling the
writer what you like and then mention what doesn't
work. Be tentative: rather than saying "This is really
muddled" try something like "I wasn't completely
clear about what this sentence meant."
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10. Be specific
• Try not to make blanket judgements ("It's really hard
to understand) or vague statements ("Your
description here is ok) in favour of specific instances
("This list really makes the procedure clear"; "I think
you need to make this point more clearly").
Wherever you can, say why you found that
something worked or didn't work.
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11. Suggestions to
make
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12. Word Choice
o Did the author choose interesting words?
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13. Using details
o For example: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling
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14. Organization
o Can you understand what the author is trying to say? Is it in the correct
sequence?
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15. Sentences
o Did they use various lengths and types?
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16. Topic
• Does the author stick to the topic or talk about other things that don’t really
fit?
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17. When You are
the Writer
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18. Explain the purpose and
audience
• Always explain the purpose and audience to your
peer editor as well as any other information that will
help your editor understand what the intended
reader of the piece might need.
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19. Take advantage of the
opportunity
• Writers benefit from the feedback they get from
peer editors, even if they don't much like it at the
time. When you write, try to think of your work as
open to revision. Take advantage of having
someone read your work to make what you write
clearer and more readable.
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20. Ask when you don't
understand
• Feel free to ask your editor for clarification if you find
the person's comments too vague or otherwise
unclear. Similarly, if your peer editor says what
you've written "looks fine" ask about specific parts of
your draft ("Did you think the purpose was clearly
stated in my introduction?").
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21. Don't take it personally
• If you feel rather bruised by the comments of your
peer editor, remind yourself that the comments are
about your writing, not about you. If someone finds
what you've written unclear, confusing, muddled,
repetitive or just plain boring, that's one person's
opinion. Accept it and see what you can do to
correct it.
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22. Feel free to decline
• If you've considered your peer editor's advice and
don't feel that it's helpful, you're always free to
ignore it. But usually if a reader says there's a
problem it's worth taking a careful look.
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23. Credits
Created using information provided at the following
website by Susan Doyle:
http://web.uvic.ca/~sdoyle/E302/Notes/Peer%20editing
.html
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