Peer Review Worksheet

PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT-Part I

Using the guidelines below, provide feedback to your assigned peers (10 points):

The goal for your responses should be to provide the writer with clear, specific possibilities for revision.Focus your attention on the content and structure of the paper, not the grammar.Your job is not to edit your groupmates’ work for grammar mistakes.If you notice a lot of problems with grammar/punctuation, definitely mention this, but don’t make this the focus of your review. Please provide thorough feedback for each question to receive credit for this assignment.

Guidelines for peer review:

• What is the purpose statement of the paper? If there is not a purpose statement, can you identify the purpose of the paper? What is the purpose?
• What is the author’s position on this nursing topic?
• How does the introduction, background, and explanation of the nursing topic help define the purpose of the paper? (Hint: Explain if the author is introducing a problem, supporting current practice, or proposing a new practice. Discuss if the introduction caught your attention and why. Explain how the background helped you understand the evolution of the issue and how the key terms/points of the issue defined the purpose). Don’t be afraid to state that you do not understand the issue, ask questions to improve your understanding, or suggest ways to clarify this section of the paper.
• What is your understanding of this author’s paper at this point? (Ex: The author believes that patient-to-nurse ratios should be based on acuity of the patient load. The background information related to this topic shows that patient outcomes have suffered when nurses care for too many very ill patients. Key terms for this issue are: patient acuity, patient-to-nurse ratio, patient satisfaction, nurse satisfaction, improved patient outcomes. He will present literature to support his position and will use a case study to further illustrate his position.)

Pay attention to organization.Make note of any sentence that seems out of place, and any transition from one idea to another that seems abrupt or confusing.Hint: Indicate if the paper “flows” and whether ideas build on each other.

Pay attention to clarity.Discuss whether ideas are expressed clearly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if needed to help the author better explain a concept. See the suggestions below, if needed.

• Ask questions: In many cases, the best feedback you can offer comes in the form of questions.Here are some examples (you don’t have to use any of these—I only offer them as a handful of sample questions).
• Show where the writer could provide more information: An effective approach would be to ask for more information and to explain why you think the information would be helpful:

Why do you wait until the 4^th page to begin talking about ___________ ?

What does _____________ mean in the context of _____________?

Why is ______________ important?

Think about the journalistic questions: Who? What? When? Where? How?

I would like to know more about . . . because . . .