In the Fall and Spring semesters, the Scholarly Writing Program offers full-time academic appointments the opportunity to join groups of 3-5 faculty members to give and receive feedback on writing in progress. These groups meet every other week September-November or February-April.
Peer review groups operate on several key principles:
- Getting regular feedback makes for better writing.
- Interacting directly with readers’ experiences of our writing makes us better writers.
- Engaging with other disciplines and their assumptions makes us more astute observers and writers within the conventions of our own disciplines.
While we often get feedback through a formal peer review process, we rarely have direct access to those readers, which can make it difficult to understand and implement feedback. Peer review groups offer writers the opportunity to build a community of readers across disciplines. This disciplinary diversity often yields important questions and surfaces assumptions that help refine the ideas and arguments at hand. Knowing specific readers are expecting a draft can also further enhance writing accountability.
Structure of the Groups
There are two main ways in which peer review groups organize reading and responding to drafts. Either each member brings a shorter piece of writing (up to 1,000 words) to each meeting, or each member signs up to have a longer draft (5,000 or more words) discussed 2-3 times each semester. Groups determine an approach based on members’ needs and interests in the first meeting.
1. Each 90-minute meeting begins with 30-40 minutes of on-the-spot reading. While drafts are circulated in advance, building in reading time ensures that participants have time to prepare for the group together.
2. After members have read the draft materials, the remaining 50-60 minutes are devoted to discussion. Each person’s draft is discussed for a minimum of 20 minutes with a focus on what readers found to be working well—that should be preserved—and then what questions and confusions emerged that might be addressed or elaborated.
Expectations for participants:
- Commit to regular attendance for the semester.
- Engage in giving feedback to others with a focus on specific actionable items.
- Receive feedback with an open mind.
In addition to these fall and spring semester peer review groups, we offer peer review groups for writers working on promotion statements by request.
