Holding a Red Pen

Peer editing is not a new concept to me. It’s an activity that I’ve been assigned many times, starting in elementary school. When a youth peer editing session would be announced, two distinct expressions would paint the faces of my peers: excitement at the freedom to chat with a friend and fear of the evaluation of others. We would huddle around printed papers with red pens, drawing more smiley faces than comments, afraid to step over the boundary between friend and editor.

12 years later, in our master’s level course, similar expressions filled the room as we began peer editing this past Wednesday. There’s an intimacy to writing, particularly for the task at hand: opinion writing. This intimacy makes it feel somewhat invasive to make critiques. It’s a challenge to know what type of feedback to provide the author without disrespecting their work.

As I read through the author’s rough draft, I’m privy to their thought process. I see how they naturally organize arguments and what implicit assumptions underlie their claims. I get a glimpse of the way they look at the world. As a curious observer, I’m inclined to leave the essay unperturbed, like an artifact to preserve the author’s stream of consciousness. I know that to give no constructive feedback would be unhelpful, but giving amateur feedback on organization or logic can feel like an intrusion.

To help me formalize my comments, I try to read pieces two times through. During the first, I allow myself to be generous and curious, exploring what the author says, what their assumptions are, and what the consequences are of their claim. On my second read, I try to detach myself, clinging only to the words on the page with a critical eye. When working with opinion essays, I may get to flex my love for logic at this stage, looking for fallacies in the argument. It’s only through this formulaic approach that I feel confident advocating for changes on pieces of writing that are not my own.

Perhaps as I continue to develop my own voice and writing toolkit, I will feel more comfortable straddling the line between curious friend and peer editor. For now, I have found that conversations on expectations and desired feedback help me give higher quality comments, making for a more productive and interesting peer editing session.