| Peer
Critique Guide: My Major Paper (#1)
Before you sit down to complete your
peer critique, make sure that you have the following: a) a printed
out, hard copy of your partner's essay, b) a printed out copy of
your partner's cover sheet, c) the old SMG.
Once you have all of those goodies, follow
this sequence:
1) Read over this critique once from
start to finish before you begin writing your critique.
2) Then open the peer critique form
up in Word: Peer Critique: Word
/ RTF / PDF
3) Now that you have read through the
critique instructions from beginning to end and opened up the
critique form as a Word document, read the writer's cover page
and make sure you understand what the reader would most like your
help with.
4) Once you have read through the cover
sheet, read through the writer's essay once without commenting
upon it and follow the questions, prompts, and suggestions in
the sections below as you write your critique.
During this peer critique process, you
will underline the thesis and the reasons offered by the writer
and follow any other instructions to write on the paper that appear
in the critique, but you will not make any other comments on the
paper. Don't worry about grammar; that's not your problem. Instead,
make all of your comments in the body of the peer critique itself.
Remember the "constructive criticism"
strategies that we reviewed in class: 1) praising specific elements
of the essay you are critiquing, 2) offering suggestions for the
areas of the paper that you view as weaker or needing development,
3) asking questions to help the writer see what a reader might not
understand, and 4) making specific suggestions whenever possible.
You will find that the more carefully you work on this critique
assignment, the stronger you own understanding of the assignment
will become.
Answer or respond to the guiding comments
for each of the areas below in your critique of your partner's essay.
1. Read for First Impression:
Tell the writer what you think the intended readers would find
most and least convincing. If you personally think the writer's
argument is seriously flawed, share your thoughts. Then try to
help the writer improve the argument for the designated readers.
Next, consider the problem the writer identified. If the problem
will be covered by one of the other items below, deal with it
there. Otherwise, respond to the writer's concerns now.
2. Assess whether the position
is stated clearly: Write a sentence or two summarizing
the writer's position as you understand it from reading the draft.
Then UNDERLINE the sentence or sentences in the draft where the
thesis is stated explicitly. (It may be restated in several places).
If you cannot find an explicit statement of th thesis, let the
writer know. Evaluate whether or not the thesis is appropriately
qualified; consider whether the thesis statement is too strident
or too timid and whether it needs to be better qualfied, more
sharply focused, or asserted more confidently. If you think that
the thesis, as presented, is not really arguable--for example
if it asserts a face no one questions or a matter of personal
belief (rather than a position that can be logically argued)--let
the writer know. Evaluate whether or not the thesis answers the
question: Why do you wish to major in the field you have
chosen. In particular, look to see that the thesis identifies
personal and social reasons
for the major the student has chosen. Evaluate, too, whether the
student has stated those reasons specifically enough. (See my
email about thesis statements for more on this idea).
3. Evaluate the reasons and
support: Underline each of the reasons offered in the
essay. Tell the writer if you think any important reasons have
been left out or any weak ones overemphasized. Indicate any contradictions
or gaps in the argument. Point to any reasons that do not seem
plausible to you, and briefly explain why. Then note any places
where support is lacking or unconvincing. Help the reader think
of additional support or suggest sources where more or better
support might be found.
4. Evaluate the quality of
research: Does the writer seem to have effectively incorporated
outside sources? Comment on the use of books, scholarly journals
(and other periodicals), or web sites. Are these sources integrated
into the essay through paraphrasing and the use of short quotes
or does the writer rely on large blocks of quotations and summary
to eat up space in the essay? Point out sources that seem especially
effective and point out sources that do not seem as effective.
Evaluate the relevance of the sources. Do the sources provided
add something to the argument or does the author seem to have
used sources arbitrarily to meet the research requirement.Can
you think of additional sources that the writer could counsider
to improve the essay?
5. Assess how well opposing
ositions and likely objections have been handled: Find
where opposing arguments or objections are mentioned and identify
them in the margin. Consider whether the writer has ignored important
arguments or objections that a thoughtful reader or taxpayer committed
to education in California might make. Point to any places where
the refutation could be strengthened.
6. Consider Whether the Organization
Is Effective: Get an overview of the essay's organization
and point out any places where more explicit cueing--transitions,
summaries, or topic sentences--would clarify the relationship
between parts of the essay.
Reread the beginning. Let the writer
know if you think readers will find it interesting and engaging.
If not, see if you can recommend something from later in the
essay that might work as a better opening.
Evaluate the body paragraphs. Does
each have the following elements: 1) a clear transition from
the previous paragraph, 2) a clear topic sentence that unifies
and focuses the paragraph (for this assignment, that topic sentence
will usually state a reason for pursuing your major and/or career),
3) sufficiently detailed and expained support, and 4) a well-explained
connection to back to thesis and or topic sentence (a "clincher"
sentence). If a paragraph seems to be missing some of these
elements, point that out. If there are paragraphs that have
particularly strong examples of these elements, point those
out as well.
Study the ending. Does the essay
conclude decisively and memorably? If not, suggest an alternative.
Could something be moved to the end?
7. Give the Writer Your Final
Thoughts: What is this draft's strongest part? What part
is most in need of further work?
When you have completed your peer critique,
attach the Word document to an email and send that email to the
writer and to me.
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Page last updated:
16 February, 2004
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