Peer Review
Required for Grades of B and Higher
Context: You have submitted your manuscript and now it is in the editor’s hands. Editors typically assign your manuscript to other scholars to read so that they can assess your research and offer feedback to improve it before publication. If the readers think the manuscript should be published, they’ll typically return it to you with their advice to improve it. If not, they will reject the article. Sometimes they explain their rationale for rejecting it and sometimes they don’t.
You, however, are not actually submitting a journal for publication. (You can if you want.) Still I think it is important to go through the process of both receiving and giving peer review.
Therefore you will be placed in groups of three and peer review your other two group members’ manuscripts and cover letters. You’ll respond to your peers in a 300 word letter plus line notes on the manuscript.
Purpose: It’s important to learn to read and critique other scholars’ work effectively. It will help you gain a valuable skill as an editor, and it also helps you improve your own writing. If you see someone else make similar mistakes, you can learn from them in your own writing.
Advice: Different journals will likely have their own process for peer review. Typically it is “blind,” which means the reviewers will not know whose paper they are reading. This prevents bias or friends helping out friends.
While many journals might do it differently, I am asking for a uniform format for this class because this is a format students have appreciated in the past.
I want you to respond to your peers in a 250-300 word letter that answers three main questions:
- What does the manuscript say?
- What does it do well?
- What is an are that could use improvement?
Additionally I want you to use track changes or a similar software to make line notes on the paper. You should do this for the other two members in your group. I’ll place you in groups.
You will almost certainly have time to do some of this work in class.
Unlike real peer review, you should NOT recommend publishing or rejecting the manuscript.
Task: Write a 250-300 word peer review letter to your two group mates and include line edits in their manuscripts.
Length: 250-300 words
Format: word or google docs
Due: November 26
