Frequently Asked Questions & Answers: Peer & Self-editing Heather Baxter 1.
How do I design a peer or self-editing exercise? A plethora of websites and articles give guidance on designing editing exercises. Most of
them suggest providing a checklist for students to follow, along with detailed instructions. It is also important to give students some information about peer and self-editing so they understand why the skill is so important and they buy in to the exercise from the beginning. Many experts suggest that you should begin implementing editing exercises early and keep at it throughout the year. When designing exercises, there are many things to consider such as when in the semester to conduct the exercise, whether to put students in pairs, whether the exercise should be anonymous, whether it should be optional or mandatory, etc. Because every professor and every class is different, this will likely vary from professor to professor and year to year. Some helpful resources to help you decide what is right for your classroom are below: •
Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 NEV. L.J. 667 (2011).
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Roberta K. Thyfault, Kathryn Fehrman, Interactive Group Learning in the Legal Writing Classroom: An International Primer on Student Collaboration and Cooperation in Large Classrooms, 3 J. MARSHALL L.J. 135 (2009).
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Kirsten K. Davis, Designing and Using Peer Review in a First-Year Legal Research and Writing Course, 9 LEGAL WRITING 1 (2003).
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Jo Anne Durako, Peer Editing: It’s Worth the Effort, 7 No. 2 PERSP. TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 73 (1999).
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Kathy Magone, Peer Editing, in Techniques for Teaching Law 245-53 (Gerald F. Hess & Steven I. Friedland eds., 1999).
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Mary Beth Beazley, The Self-Graded Draft: Teaching Students to Revise Using Guided Self- Critique, 3 LEGAL WRITING: J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 175 (1997).
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Kathleen Magone, Peer Editing Benefits You and Your Students, THE LAW TEACHER, Volume 4, number 1 (Fall 1996), p. 11, located at http://lawteaching.org/lawteacher/1996fall/peerediting.php.
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Susan Bryant, Collaboration in Law Practice: A Satisfying and Productive Process for a Diverse Profession, 17 VERMONT L. REV. 459 (1993).
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The CUNY website has some great resources for law teachers at http://www.law.cuny.edu/legal-writing/faculty/peer-editing.html
2.
Where can I find sample peer and self-editing exercises? When looking for samples, the LWI Idea bank is always a good place to begin. The Idea
bank can be accessed at http://lwionline.org/idea_bank.html. The articles listed below also have appendices with very helpful samples: •
Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 NEV. L.J. 667 (2011).
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Kirsten K. Davis, Designing and Using Peer Review in a First-Year Legal Research and Writing Course, 9 LEGAL WRITING 1 (2003).
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Mary Beth Beazley, The Self-Graded Draft: Teaching Students to Revise Using Guided Self- Critique, 3 LEGAL WRITING: J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 175 (1997).
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The LWI Idea bank can be accessed at http://lwionline.org/idea_bank.html.
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Additionally, the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning is a great resource: http://lawteaching.org/lawteacher/1996fall/peerediting.php.
3.
What are the benefits of peer and self-edits? The benefits of self-edit and peer-edit exercises are plentiful. In a time when we are
encouraging more formative assessment in the classroom, peer and self-editing exercises are wonderful tools to give students intermittent feedback. Further, they teach collaborative learning techniques and free up time for professors to pursue other learning objectives. It also allows students to engage in the art of being a reader and helps them understand the audience they are
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trying to write for. Most people agree that both peer-edits and self-edits inure to the benefit of the editor, rather than the edited. They are primarily designed to help the students doing the editing to critically consider another’s work, which in turn, helps them learn to be critical of their own work. Self-editing exercises, on the other hand, help students become better self-editors, which is a skill that is crucial in today’s practice and the eventual goal of both peer and selfediting exercises. Further, both types of editing exercises can help to alleviate the anxiety students have about their writing. It also helps students realize that it isn’t just the professor who sees the problems with the student’s writing. For more on the benefits of editing exercises, see: •
Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 NEV. L.J. 667 (2011) .
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Roberta K. Thyfault, Kathryn Fehrman, Interactive Group Learning in the Legal Writing Classroom: An International Primer on Student Collaboration and Cooperation in Large Classrooms, 3 J. MARSHALL L.J. 135, 164 (2009).
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Libby A. White, Peering Down the Edit, 16 No. 3 PERSP: TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 160 (2008).
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Tracy Bach, Collaboration in Legal Writing—and Beyond, The Second Draft at 9 (June 2001).
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Jo Anne Durako, Peer Editing: It’s Worth the Effort, 7 No. 2 PERSP. TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 73 (1999).
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Mary Beth Beazley, The Self-Graded Draft: Teaching Students to Revise Using Guided Self- Critique, 3 LEGAL WRITING: J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 175 (1997).
4.
What are the drawbacks of peer and self-edits? Many professors proclaim that they do not have the time to teach the skills that are
required, much less give up a whole day on an editing exercise. Students, on the other hand, have the perception that peer editing only helps the weaker students. Some even believe that competitive students will deliberately give bad advice. Additionally, there is always the risk that a student will receive conflated feedback and, therefore, have a skewed view that his or her paper is actually better than it is. And on the flip side, a particularly unskilled editor may mark as
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wrong things that are actually right. Despite these common fears, most scholars agree that peer edits are worth the possible drawbacks. First, peer editing exercises actually help save time. See Jo Anne Durako, Peer Editing: It’s Worth the Effort, 7 No. 2 Persp. Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 73 (1999). Second, many studies have shown that the strong students benefit greatly from the exercises because it helps affirm the skills they have been learning all along. Careful preparation for the peer edit can also alleviate many of the other concerns. A checklist, for example, helps keep students on task. Additionally, a carefully planned out speech given at the beginning of the peer edit that emphasizes the goals of the peer edit and the value of the assignment can go a long way to getting students to buy into the assignment. •
Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 NEV. L.J. 667 (2011).
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Anne M. Enquist, Unlocking the Secrets of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students 82 ST. JOHN'S L. REV. 609 (2008).
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Libby A. White, Peering Down the Edit, 16 No. 3 PERSP: TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 160 (2008).
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Jo Anne Durako, Peer Editing: It’s Worth the Effort, 7 No. 2 PERSP. TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 73 (1999).
5.
Which is more beneficial to the students, a peer-edit or a self-edit? The simple answer to this is yes. Although the question was not a yes or no question, the
answer is that peer-edits and self-edits both benefit the students, and most scholars agree that we should offer an opportunity for students to engage in both. Many professors offer a self-editing exercise in the fall semester and then a peer-editing exercise in the spring, once students have had a semester “under their belt.” But whether you are conducting a self-edit or a peer-edit, the goal with both of these assignments is actually to help students ultimately become better selfeditors. Many of them, however, can only accomplish that by much practice on editing work other than their own, which is why peer-edits are extremely helpful.
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Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 NEV. L.J. 667 (2011).
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Tracy Bach, Collaboration in Legal Writing--and Beyond, Second Draft, June 2001, at 9 (June 2001).
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Jo Anne Durako, Peer Editing: It’s Worth the Effort, 7 No. 2 PERSP. TEACHING LEGAL RES. & WRITING 73 (1999).
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Mary Beth Beazley, The Self-Graded Draft: Teaching Students to Revise Using Guided Self- Critique, 3 LEGAL WRITING: J. LEGAL WRITING INST. 175 (1997).
Contact Information: Heather Baxter Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center
[email protected] 954-262-6168
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