One way to help students develop a sensitivity to audience, which will lead to a clarity and directness previously absent in their writing, is to encourage them to use their peers as responders to the writing in progress. 

Peer responses provide several benefits:

	Students get feedback on the assignment before they turn it into the instructor.
	Reading another's paper and responding to it helps students recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their own writing.
	Students develop a greater sense of and sensitivity to audience.
	Exchanging drafts with peers helps students develop a greater critical sense of what works and what doesn't--in this particular assignment and in writing in general.
	Students learn new information from their peers' papers.

The role of the peer responder is to be an objective reader of the document in process.  The responder should be reacting to conceptual and communication issues in the paper, rather than to editorial and proofreading matters.   

Facilitating Effective Peer Response

Effective peer response is an acquired skill—and important life skill.  Here are some tips to help teachers work with students as they learn how to respond honestly but tactfully to their peers—and to receive feedback from others:

1. Discuss etiquette. Honesty tempered with politeness is the guideline, here.  Remind students that, while their input should never be rude, peers will only learn from honest feedback.
2. Reassure students that it is appropriate (and desirable) for them to tell writers when some part of a paper is or isn't working, even if they can't explain why. That will at least issue an alert to a potential problem or writing strength.  
   
3. Emphasize the importance of pointing out both strengths and weaknesses in the papers.  
   
4. Design peer-response workshop materials based upon the specific assignment. The question that should guide students through the peer response session is: How clearly and effectively does the paper fulfill the guidelines established by the assignment?  
   
5. Encourage students to make suggestions for improvements to the paper.

Some instructors like peer-response workshop sessions to be open-ended, without formal guidelines.  Early in the class, though, responses are likely to be more balanced and equal in quality if responders have guiding questions and a structure in which to operate.

  One successful structure:

1. Form groups of 3-4.  Each member has a paper in progress to receive feedback.  
   
2. Distribute a response prompt sheet with the caution that all writing belongs on this sheet. The papers in progress should not be marked on.  This sheet has 5-10 questions about the conceptual issues of the paper—key points that match the goals set in the assignment.  There should be enough space in between each question for a brief response.  In the top corner is a blank for the writer’s name and a blank for the first responder’s name.  The back side of the paper is identical to the front, with one exception:  the second blank is for the SECOND responder’s name.  
   
3. Direct students to write their names in the author’s blanks on both side, to put the response prompt sheet on top of their paper to be reviewed, and to hand this packet to the person to their right.  
   
4. Instruct students that they are now responders as they write their names in the first responder’s blanks.  Students need the time to read the papers silently and to comment on them.  When they finish the first reads, they turn the paper over and pass the packet to their right.  This time they will become a second responder.  
   
5. Allow time at the end for the group to debrief.  This is a valuable opportunity for writers to receive clarification, feedback, and suggestions.

Students' Use of Peer Evaluations

It is important to remind writers that they have to decide whether and how they will incorporate their peers' suggestions into their papers. They can accept or reject the advice that they are given, and ultimately, each individual writer is responsible for his or her final document. Students should not blindly accept all of the advice given them by their peers; rather, they should weigh all suggestions against the requirements of the assignment and their own sense of their work. Most students will find that they use some of their peers' remarks and disregard others.