Peer Review Process in Academic Editing
Explore the importance of peer review in academic and professional development, focusing on improving writing skills and critical evaluation. Learn about the benefits of peer review, ways to effectively review work, and various modes of assessment. Understand the peer review process and how it enhances individual growth through constructive feedback and collaboration among peers.
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Lecture Note 2: Introduction to Editing Introduction Introduction The ability to review and edit your work is a vital part of your academic and professional development. Today we start with our first step explaining the peer-review process. As you learn how to review other person s work, you will also gain the tools you need to improve your own work. We start by editing for structure and content before we move into law-related work. 13:30:22
Learning Objectives Learning Objectives By the end of the Module, you will be able to: List three benefits of peer-review Identify ways to write more effectively Use a rubric to grade a writing sample Use an appropriate format to present assignments 13:30:22
Modes of Assessment Using the Peer Review or Self Review Forms of Assessment One of the most useful ways to improve your writing is by reading and assessing the writing of other people. In this class we use both peer review and self review. Using Discussion forums, you will be asked to submit your work to the forum and then you will be given a rubric, which you should read carefully in order to provide meaningful feedback concerning your own post or that of a peer. 13:30:22
The Peer Review Process How do you feel about your peers? Do you feel intimidated? Do you think of yourself as superior? Do you value their diversity? You cannot have an orchestra with only violins. Sometimes I look around the class and wonder how half the people got here. Then I look at the other half and wonder how I got here. Is it possible for two people who don t know what they are doing to know less than one person who doesn t know what he is doing? 13:30:22
The Peer Review Process The Benefits of Peer Review The peer review process has multiple goals /benefits: To help you start to think like an examiner To help you critically evaluate your own work Because law is conflict-driven which means that two heads are almost always better than one. As you can see, the purpose of peer review is not so much for you to help others, but for you to help yourselves! 13:30:22
The Peer Review Process How does Peer Review work? The class is divided into groups of 10 / it may not be divided. You upload your essay to your eLearning platform by the deadline. When the designated time arrives, you will see all of the essays from your group. You will be automatically assigned 3 essays to review (if you have been placed into a group), but you are free to view all of the submissions from your group or a select few students. You are to critically assess and reply to the posting provided by each of your peers or yourself, in response to the original discussion forum post; as guided by the rubric provided. Your tutor may or may not review and comment on how you reviewed either yourself or your peers. Remember however, that your reviews are for your own benefit more than they are for the other person. 13:30:22
The Rubric How To Use the Peer Review Rubric You will be given a specific area of focus for each peer-review exercise. See the file LMRWRubrics See also UWIGradeDescriptors In this lesson, we focus on clarity of expression as a grading criteria found within a rubric. 13:30:22
The Rubric A Sample Rubric Points (4) 4 3 2 1 Clarity of Expression Clear, well-written, well- Fairly well written, but Wordy and repetitive, but Difficult to read, poor structured, good grammar wordy and not as well generally good grammar grammar or spelling, poor and spelling, concise. structured. and spelling / too terse and sentence or paragraph does not explain concepts structure. properly. 13:30:22
Elements of Good Writing The writing should be concise It should be well-structured It should be polished 13:30:22
The writing should be concise Use definite, specific, concrete language. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell . William Strunk Jr. in The Elements of Style 13:30:22
The writing should be concise Is this the most efficient method? Would a sentence like this be called concise? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine 13:30:22
The writing should be concise Tips For Making Writing More Concise 1. Use the shortest form of the word. 2. Keep your sentences to 25-30 words. 3. Only explain one idea at a time. https://researchvoodoo.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/10-tips-for-more-concise-writing/ 13:30:22
The writing should be well-structured How to Structure Your Writing Structure refers to the way the document flows. It includes the following elements: Introduction gets reader s attention Introduction articulates thesis There is a roadmap There are appropriate transitions Argument is presented clearly and logically There is a good balance between description and analysis for each section There is overall structure Sections and paragraphs are well structured 13:30:22
A Visual Example of Poor Structure The following is a screen shot of an essay that was submitted to me by a former student. It was fairly typical for that assignment. What strikes you when you look at the image (Don t worry if you cannot make out the words)? 13:30:22
An Example of Poor Structure A Synopsis of the Example Given Above I gather that several of you write such long paragraphs because you were taught that the ideal essay is 5 paragraphs long. Do not confine yourselves to this structure. To quote a writing guide from Bakersfield College: The five-paragraph template is the essay equivalent of training wheels. You should be able to keep yourself steady on your own now--it is time to lose the training wheels. An essay can have any number of main points, and you may expand on a main point across more than one paragraph. (http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/gdumler/Engl%201A/Supplements/basic_essay_structure.htm) 13:30:22
An Outline of Good Structure The following image depicts the main features of a well structured essay. http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/gdumler/Engl%201A/Supplements/pictures/essay_structure.gif 13:30:22
The writing should be polished How to Polish Your Writing Polish includes grammar, and fluency I cannot stress enough the importance of good grammar If this is a struggle for you, then I recommend Grammarly. 13:30:22
Learning Activity 2.1 Learning Activity Ungraded 2.1 In an appropriate discussion on the Learning Exchange post your assessment of the following writing samples. Then award 4 points if the writing is clear, concise, well-structured and well-polished. 3 points if there are a few errors or the writing is not completely clear, 2 points if there are many errors, and 0-1 points if the writing is incomprehensible. How can you assist the author in improving it?
Sample 1 In the substantive matter the Claimant is the widow and administrator of the estate of Marie Delcina Nurse (Deceased). On the 27th day of February, 2014, the Claimant, by fixed date claim form, brought an action against the Defendant for possession of property situate at Wellington Street, Bridgetown, St. Michael and profits at the rate of $2,500.00 a month from the date of service of the claim form until possession is delivered up together with interest pursuant to section 35A of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, Cap. 117A, the application was accompanied by an affidavit of equal date. 13:30:22
Sample 2 This case is a civil case before the Honorable Madam Pamela Beckles, Judge of the High Court of Barbados, in the Supreme Court of Judicature. Hearings were commenced 2016: April 14 2018: August 3. Matters made by the plaintiff attorney Mr. M. Tariq Khan involve having the enforcement of the Legal Professional Act and ethics of the professional codes to be upheld due to a breach in its provision by the defendant attorney. Mr. M. Tariq Khan further contended that his position in the Bar of the association was indeed the correct authority to carry out the laws stipulated in the two Acts, and which would render the defendant s attorney Ms. Vonda M. Pile practicing certificate invalid. Counterarguments involved a violated of Ms. Vonda M. Pile constitutional rights of freedom of association. She submissions stated that had it not been for the Bar of Association allocating additional fees associated with value added taxes, Ms. Vonda M. Pile alleged breach, would not have transpired; and in support of the defendant argument, vat exemptions were already exempted from the association. Beckles J ruled in favour of Ms. Vonda M. Pile holding the principle in the ruling the supremacy of the constitution is above all other laws which are subject to the provisions of the constitution. 13:30:22
Sample 3 While representing his client in court, Mr. Tariq Khan, attorney-at-law, filed an application requesting that his colleague Ms. Vonda Pile be denied an audience with the court. He contended that she was in breach of Section 44 of the LPA, which declares that attorneys, on the reception of their practising certificates, must pay a mandatory annual subscription fee to possess a valid practicing certificate. Mr. Khan contended that the LPA governed all attorneys in Barbados, including Ms. Pile, and that the requirement of this legislation was for attorneys to pay the mandatory membership fee to the Bar Association to possess a valid practising certificate. Lawyers who fail to conform to the mandatory payment of Bar Association fees, will not belong to the Bar Association and thus will not have valid certificates. Mr. Khan said that Section 57 and 90 of the LPA Code of Ethics respectively state that attorneys are only permitted to practice if they are issued with a certificate in accordance with the Act. He further stated that failure to pay, amounted to professional misconduct and that disciplinary action should be taken by the disciplinary committee. Ms. Pile said that she attempted to pay her fees but was informed, that she must also pay tax and as of such she did not pay because she found the Bar Association fee was non-taxable. Ms. Pile challenged Mr. Khan s authority to sue her by enacting the Bar Association Act. Ms. Pile also challenged, Section 44 and 45 of the LPA and stated that when they were read in conjunction they violated her constitutional right found in section 21(1) of the Barbados Constitution. 13:30:22
Learning Activity 2.1 Learning Activity Ungraded 2.1 Your First Assessment Task A: essay entitled What being a lawyer means to me. As you will recall, your first writing exercise is a 500 word Check over your essay critically. What grade would you assign it based on the rubric provided and why? Also discuss the feedback you obtained from your peer if feedback was provided.
Learning Activity 2.2 Pop Quiz: Discussion Learning Activity Ungraded 2.2 POP Quiz / Discussion Forum In an appropriate discussion forum on the learning exchange: Use two or more bullet points to describe what was discussed in today s lecture What was the muddiest point in the lecture?
Summary Summary In today s lecture we learned the benefits of the peer- review process, and started learning how to apply rubrics. We also learned some of the elements of good writing.
