Peer Review Guide
You can either deal with the questions one at a time, or you can write a brief summary (for each section of this guide) pointing out the major strengths and weaknesses you perceive in the other student’s essay. Please try to offer useful critiques to the writer. Don’t just answer “yes” or “no.”
You can mark on the essay, but don't nitpick--and don't smother the essay in comments as I sometimes seem to do.
You don't have to comment on every single thing that you notice in the paper--just the most important ones that you think the writer needs to address when he/she revises to produce a final draft to be graded. This guide is intended to direct your attention to the sorts of things you should be looking at--and also, of course, as a checklist to guide your own writing in the future.
INTRODUCTION AND THESIS
1. What is the thesis (main point/controlling idea) of the essay?
2. Is the thesis a reasonable (appropriate) one for this assignment?
3. Is the thesis significant, interesting, & manageable?
4. Does the essay state the main point in a clear thesis statement in its introductory paragraph (preferably at or near the end of the paragraph)?
(NOTE: If the essay opens with a “hook,” then the intro paragraph follows the hook.)
5. Does the essay stick to the main point, or does it sometimes slip off topic? (If it does go off topic, where and how does that happen?)
6. Do you think the introduction is effective?
CONCLUSION
1. Does the essay “click closed” when you get to the conclusion, or does it seem to hang in the air at the end?
2. If the essay does conclude, is the conclusion effective, or does it merely repeat the thesis or the opening paragraph?
3. Is the conclusion a logical end-point for this essay? (In other words, does it seem to be where the essay has been heading all along?)
PARAGRAPHS
1. Do the essay’s main subpoints, reflected in the essay’s paragraphs, seem to be logical subpoints of the thesis, or do some of them seem to wander off-topic?
2. Does each paragraph have a clear topic sentence at or near the beginning of the paragraph? (Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 sentences to completely express the topic of a paragraph or paragraph bloc.)
3. Is the main point of each paragraph a logical subpoint of the thesis?
4. Are all of the necessary subpoints of the thesis developed in the essay, or are important subpoints neglected? (In other words, does the essay seem to be leaving out subpoints that are clearly necessary to properly develop the thesis?)
5. Are the subpoints adequately developed in paragraphs or paragraph blocs, or are essential details left out?
6. Does the writer provide specific details & examples to clarify, support, or illustrate his/her points, or does he/she just make a lot of general statements without developing them?
7. Are any claims appropriately qualified to avoid overgeneralization/overclaiming?
8. Are the writer’s premises plausible, or does he/she work from premises that his/her audience might find too implausible. (Remember, an argument is built on premises, so if your reader can’t buy your premise, he/she will not find your argument plausible.)
9. Is each paragraph focused, unified, & directed? (See article E6.)
10. Are there any sentences in any of the paragraphs that seem not to belong to that paragraph? (In other words, are any of the “beads” in a paragraph the “wrong color?”)
11. f a sentence does not belong in a given paragraph, does it belong in one of the other paragraphs?
12. If an out of place sentence doesn’t seem to fit into one of the other paragraphs, decide whether the sentence embodies something that should be developed in this essay (in which case the essay should have a paragraph that deals with the point in the sentence), or whether it is a point that is not really necessary in the essay (in which case it should simply be omitted).
13. Are the paragraphs in a logical order, and are the logical connections leading from one paragraph to the next clear enough?
14. If transitional markers are needed to show connections between paragraphs, are they provided?
15. Are the sentences of the paragraph in a logical order and effectively linked with transitions, or does the paragraph jump abruptly from one point to another, without showing how they are linked (“bead-stringing”; lack of coherence)?
SENTENCES
1. Are most of the essay’s sentences mechanically correct, or do you find a significant number of grammar and usage errors?
2. Does the essay read smoothly out loud (in other words, does it have sentence fluency), or does it sound awkward or choppy?
3. Do the writer’s sentences sound “natural,” or do they seem to be clunky, pedantic, “fancy-pants” sentences designed to impress the reader rather than to make the writer’s points clear.
4. Are closely related ideas effectively combined and subordinated, or are they bead-strung—i.e., either given separate sentences or else joined by coordination rather than by embedding (subordination) where embedding is needed?
5. Does the writer use words and phrases that you are supposed to be trying not to use much in essays for this class? If so, is he/she justified in doing so, or should he/she revise to get rid of such things?
(EXS: “there” + “to be” constructions; forms of “you,”—including the command/imperative form of verbs; K impersonal “it” constructions; orphan pronouns—especially “it” and “this”; ambiguous pronouns)
WORDS/DICTION
1. Does the writer use a reasonable variety of precise, vivid words, or does he/she use the same words repeatedly (K echoing) or use a lot of generic words (especially generic verbs and modifiers)?
2. If he/she does use a variety of words, does he/she do so “naturally,” or does he/she seem to be “trying too hard” for variety? (In other words, can you “see him/her sweat”?)
3. Are the words and phrases used idiomatically?
4. Do the words seem “natural,” or does the writer seem to be mining the thesaurus for “fancy-pants” words for no other reason than to impress the reader?
OVERALL EFFECT
1. Did you find the essay enjoyable to read? Do you think high school students would?
2. If this essay actually appeared as a guest article in a high school newspaper, do you think the students would find it interesting, informative, and helpful?
EXTRA
If you have the highlighters to use, highlight the same elements that I use designated colors for:
1. Yellow: forms of “there” + “to be”
2. Orange: orphan pronouns (especially “it” or “them”); K use of impersonal “it” construction; excessive use of “it”
3. Green: K echoing; K repetition of words or phrases
4. Blue: “forms of “you,” including commands (imperative voice)
5. If you have extra colors (e.g., pink or purple), you could use them for other things I have advised against—like starting a sentence with “so.”
