We Write Together

Every college student is bound to hear the words, "compose a research paper", come from their professors mouths while in college. Writing is a requirement to graduate. The papers that we write may discuss sports, politics, space, or just about anything that a student thinks of. Our papers may vary greatly, but there is one thing that all of our papers should have in common; they were all edited and reviewed by our peers.

Personally, I go about the task of writing a paper by writing the first draft without any help. I have found that this is the only way that I can express all of my thoughts in a way that I want them to be expressed. Only after I have written down, or typed down in this day and age, every single thought about my topic, do I find it beneficial to receive outside help. This ensures that the material being edited are all my ideas. While writing, I often go back and read what I have already written to try and get a better sense of what I want to say. I find it harder to express my own thoughts if I am reading an already edited piece. 

I do believe that peer review is beneficial. Our minds think faster than our hands can type or write. This means that many times we accidentally omit words, or even sentences, without realizing it. Then, when rereading what we have written, our minds read what they wanted to say, rather than what is written on the paper. Peers can also give us feedback on how to better our writing. Some students may be better at creative writing, while some may be better at writing formal research papers. All of our peers can usually help our writing in at least some way. 

All papers should be reviewed and edited by someone, but the when and how they are edited can vary greatly from student to student. A student should figure out what works best for them and run with it.

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