Like everyone else has mentioned, there was not too much reading to be completed this week other than the peer reviews and the editing of our own project documents. The peer reviews consumed most of the time and effort of the two reading duties. The peer reviews can be split in to two categories, reading other white papers and reading what others have stated about my groups paper. Both of these aspects of the peer review were beneficial and nerve racking. When I read other groups white papers, I was determined to help them by noting what I believed to be hard to understand or unnecessary. I gave these groups my full effort and concentration, but I did not feel like they would acknowledge my point of view. I recognized this when I received the same white paper for a second review. This second version of the paper looked exactly the same as the first draft that previously reviewed. This was very upsetting for me and unfortunate for them. I felt disrespected and they missed out on an opportunity to improve their project. I am not sure if I made the right decision after I came to this realization. This decision was to spend much less time and effort reviewing the first draft. Either they did not appreciate my advice or did not have time to look at my corrections on the first draft. Regardless of their mindset or the scenario, they already have what I believe to be one very review from my group.

Looking at the reviews from the other perspective, the author, was just as enlightening as the editor’s perspective. I would be lying if I said that I attempted to satisfy every editing note another group offered. On the other hand, some groups that edited our paper did not critique anything. This was also aggravating, at least offer our group some corrections so we can shoot them down.