I have recently received several emails asking about the 12 hour time limit. I have apparently caused some confusion about how long you have to perform each peer critique.

When you submit your work for critique you are assigned to perform a number of reviews. Once you click “start reviewing” you have 12 hours to complete that assigned review. If you do not complete that review within 12 hours the assignment will expire and you will be given something new to critique the next time you click start reviewing.

We do not care if you let an assigned review expire. We know you are busy and sometimes can’t stomach reviewing a piece written in all CAPS. You will not be penalized for letting an assignment expire. You can do one review an hour, day, week, month, or year. Set your own pace and enjoy the peer critique process.

Jacob

Our home page quotes an old Latin Proverb: “By teaching you will learn.” This sentiment is echoed on our About Us page where we state, “…we believe the biggest opportunities for improving [your work] lie in the learning gained from reviewing the work of others.” Okay, so doing reviews is a great way to learn, but how does it work? If you review someone else’s story do you automatically become a better writer? Well, maybe a little, but the depth of your learning depends on how you do the review.

Let me clarify by with an experience. About ten years ago, I was living in Brazil. At the request of several Brazilian friends, I decided to teach a weekly English class. I found a suitable classroom and pinned up some flyers at a local college to publicize class.

Over fifty students showed up to the first class, and I was completely overwhelmed. I had no experience teaching English as a second language. In fact, my only qualification (touted prominently on the flyer) was that I am a native speaker. I struggled though my first poorly prepared lesson, and quickly learned that “because it sounds right” was an unacceptable answer to students’ questions regarding issues such as proper grammar, sentence structure, pronunciation, and verb conjugation.

For the next week’s lesson, I consulted several English books and grammar manuals. In order to explain the concepts to the students, I had to thoroughly understand them myself. As I studied, my confidence grew. Not only did I know the right answers, but now I also knew why the answers were right. As I taught, the concepts were further cemented in my brain.

As Steve pointed out in his last post, when you review the work of others, you are the expert. The writers you review want your opinion and only you are qualified to tell them what you like and what you don’t. But can you tell them why you like it or don’t? Can you say what makes it sound funny or why it rings true? If you struggle to express the reasons behind your opinion, it’s an indicator of an ideal learning opportunity.

If you don’t take the time to find the explanations behind your opinions, you’re robbing yourself of a great opportunity to advance your knowledge and improve your skill. However, if you master something well enough to explain it to someone else, you’ll be less likely to forget it and more likely to benefit from it in your own work.

So if you run up against something you don’t feel confident teaching, hit up Wikipedia, do a Google search, dig up a manual, or find someone who knows. Put in the preparation and then do your review. The peer you’re reviewing will appreciate it and you’ll benefit from it.

- Clark