Peer evaluation is a useful way for students to consider both their own and other students' writing. Although Bowen and Marks (1996) tell us that peer evaluation is under-used because of its practical difficulties, it is a helpful tool because it is easier to see mistakes and problems in another piece of writing than in one's own. Peer correction also has a very positive side: that is, students may be able to draw on each others' strengths and abilities, as well as just noticing their weaknesses. Students can learn a great deal of positive things from each other. Peer feedback needs to be used sensitively, because there is a potential for students to feel threatened if they are unfamiliar with this method, or if there are personal tensions within a particular learning environment (though evidence suggests that peers are usually positive and constructive when giving feedback). The tutor needs to be careful about which students to place together. It is useful, when students are engaged in peer feedback, for them to be given an evaluation sheet to help them to focus on important points. An example is given below, based on a reader evaluation questionnaire by Sherman (1994):

This feedback sheet is helpful in that it focuses on specific criteria, and it accentuates the positive side of student writing. There is nothing more demoralizing for a student than to see their work dissected and criticized, but the feedback sheet is designed to make this as constructive as possible (see also Module 13, section 13.3.2 on peer assessment).