peer review process

Responding to your peers writing is at frist thought a pretty easy process.You have to got the class read their drafts, and recite what they wish to hear. Personal I think this is the way I like it. Saying"job well done" makes me and them both happy and reviewing a painless process.But this dose not seem the case.When you are in the class this turns out to be a lot differnt.You are not trying to seek out every errors or mistakes in the writing.You are not here to judge any ones writing neither are you here as an editor of a newspaper who throws his anger at the writer. You are a test driver. Your a really good buddyof the writer but not the one who tells yes to everythinghe say yes to.To put it painly you say it for what it is, in a mild manner.Your evaluation depends on one critical information which is in what phase of drafting it is.If it is a early stage of drafting then you analysis the paper accordingly. In a rough draft you are not looking for small minor mistake.You look at the bigger picture likethe paper's focus, overall content , flow and order, and sentence style. In the later phase you worry more about the minor errors and punctuations.Commenting is a big part of reviewing .Do i need to sound like a judge ? As far as your concerns go you should remeber your place. We are the first reader of the text not its writers.You are free to give opinions but do not make them sound like gods judgement. While reviewing the paper marignal comments are the best.Marginal comment allow you to give quick timely comments.It allows you to give comments in your own space and,let the writer have his own. At the end of the paper you can explain your interpretations, problems, questions, and advice.Short and sweet does not work. Elobrating and using specific instances helps out a lot. Prasing the writing is a good thing, but you also want to criticize.Constructive criticizim will help the writer.Always be ready to expect more of the writer.Make solid comments.Make sure they are full and thoughtful.They are written after taking the other person into consideration. As a reviewer you just trying to show the reader the dark spot. Push them in the right direction at the same time being respectful. Writer are some times really make a big deal out of your comments so do not say something which could have unpredicted outcomes.