Synthesis Essay Peer Editing Form

Writer’s Name ___________________________Editor’s Name___________________________

1. Does the first paragraph introduce the topic and establish its complexity? Does the thesis make it clear that the point of the paper is to explain the issues discussed by a number of writers?

2. Does each paragraph have a clear and specific topic sentence that accurately introduces an idea discussed by one of more of the articles? Is the material in each paragraph clearly related to its topic sentence?

3. Are all of the major points discussed? Is each point accurately and fully explained?

4. Are transitions used between paragraphs? Are they used within paragraphs especially when the student writer is moving from what one article says to what is said in another?

5. Are direct quotations and paraphrases correctly introduced and smoothly incorporated into the text? Do they reflect accurately the articles’ points?

6. Do the sentences combine ideas that are related, using coordination, subordination, verbal phrases, or parallelism when appropriate? Are there too many brief, choppy main clauses? (Use your Student Handbook or a similar reference text to help with this item)

7. Mechanics, grammar spelling: does the paper contain a distracting number of errors of this kind?

8. Is comparison the dominant organizational design of the paper? Are the things being compared alike enough to warrant a comparison yet different enough to make the comparison worthwhile?

9. What is the single most important revision that should be made?