Make peer review useful with three specific questions
A reader can offer more useful feedback when you explain what you want them to notice. Turn a general request to check your work into a short, focused conversation about the draft.
Choose questions that match the stage
A rough outline needs different feedback from a nearly finished essay. Before sharing, tell your reader which stage you are at and name the part you most want to improve. For an early draft, ask whether the main point is clear and whether the order of ideas makes sense. For a later draft, a question about an unsupported claim or an unclear transition may be more useful.
Avoid asking a friend to check everything in ten minutes. Choose three questions that require a response beyond yes or no. For example: What do you think my central claim is? Where did you need an example? Which paragraph felt disconnected from the question? These prompts give your reader permission to describe their experience rather than guess your grade.
Ask for locations and observations
Useful feedback points to a place in the work. Invite your reader to mark the sentence where the explanation became difficult and describe what they expected next. 'I thought this paragraph would explain the comparison, but it introduces a new topic' gives you something to inspect. A label such as confusing is harder to turn into an edit.
If you are reviewing someone else's work, first describe what you understood. Then ask about the gap. You might say, 'I understood that the two examples use different methods. I could not tell why that difference matters to your conclusion.' This leaves the writer responsible for their argument while identifying a specific reading problem.
Decide what to revise yourself
Read the comments alongside the assignment brief. A peer's preference is one source of information, while the stated task and marking criteria remain your guide. If two readers disagree, compare the reasons behind their responses. You may need a clearer signpost rather than a completely different structure.
Write a small revision list: keep, change and investigate. Put straightforward edits under change, useful strengths under keep and uncertain advice under investigate. Do your own rewriting, and follow your course's rules about collaboration. A productive review ends with a clearer decision about the draft, not an obligation to accept every suggestion.
Try this, one step at a time
- Choose three questions for the current stage of your draft.
- Ask the reader to mark specific passages and explain their reactions.
- Compare the feedback with the brief and choose your next revision.
Original editorial ideas, published January 18, 2026. These are optional experiments to adapt to your circumstances, not promises of a particular result.