Narrative Essay Peer Review Workshop

E101
NARRATIVE ESSAY
PEER REVIEW
Beck
Name of writer_____________________________________________
Title of essay_____________________________________________________________
Name of reviewer ___________________________________________
Assignment Fulfilled
An autobiographical story about the writer (contains “I”)
Contains a life lesson
Comes across as an honest expression of what you may know of this writer
Purpose
Retells an experience in order to increase others’ awareness of your particular
“philosophy of life”
Audience
Subject and wording all appropriate for E-101 colleagues and professor

Focus
ONE NARROW key scene or incident
ONE life lesson learned
Life lesson is not a cliché
Development
Explains who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Has lots of UNIQUE details: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste
Includes description of people, using realistic dialogue, characteristics of their
possessions, gestures, habits, and/or appearance

Narrative Features
Has a dramatic conflict built into the story
Starts right off with action
Is it Man/Woman against Man/Woman
Man against Society
Man against Nature
Or Man against Self
Avoids Ruining the Story:
(does not give too much background in intro, avoids “spilling the beans”,
does not summarize events in a clichéd way)
Coherence
Smooth flow
No confusing parts or wording
Organized paragraph structure
Transitional words leading the reader
A satisfying conclusion (no “so what”)
Surface Conventions
Free from errors in
Punctuation
Spelling
Grammar
Mechanics
Professional appearance, typed, 12 font, 1-2 pages, double-spaced, logical
heading