Peer Review Assignment

English 102: English Composition II
Peer Review of Draft Essay
If you’re a little freaked out by the idea of peer review, you’re not alone. Plenty of students feel
unqualified to comment on their classmates’ writing, and plenty more are uncomfortable with the
idea of having peers review the writing they’ve created. But peer review can be a very good
thing if you remember at all times that your job is to provide your peer another set of eyes and
brain cells for the purpose of helping both yourself and your peer to become better writers.
It also helps to keep in mind that your job as a peer reviewer is not to “be the teacher” – in other
words, you are not responsible for correcting your peer’s errors. But you are responsible for
reading carefully and with a thorough understanding of the assigned task – and most important,
you are responsible for responding to your peer’s writing honestly. It might feel good to write
“Great job! Don’t change a word!” but please remember that such comments don’t help your
peer to become a better writer – in fact, they tend to achieve the opposite effect.
When you review your peer’s draft essay, follow the process outlined below:
1. Print this page to use as a reference while you have your peer’s essay open on your
computer. Once you’ve opened your peer’s draft, use the Save As feature to create a new
document on your computer. Be sure to save the new file with a name that meets the
format & submission requirements in the syllabus.
2. Under Review in your word processor, select Track Changes. This allows you to type
comments that your peer will easily identify as your writing and not his or hers.
3. Read your peer’s draft in its entirety without taking any notes, giving your peer’s writing
your full attention.
4. Using the Global Revision checklist below to consider the criteria that make a good
essay, re-read your peer’s essay. Take notes on the essay’s global strengths and
weaknesses, both for yourself and within the text of your peer’s draft using your word
processor’s Comment feature.
5. Using the Editing/Proofreading checklist below to consider the criteria that make for
effective use of language, re-read your peer’s draft again with these elements in mind.
Take notes on the essay’s editing/proofreading strengths and weaknesses, both for
yourself and within the text of your peer’s paragraph using the Comment feature.
6. Finally, write a well-developed paragraph for your peer that summarizes the most
significant strengths and weaknesses of his or her draft. Type this paragraph at the end of
your peer’s text. Take care to make your paragraph as thorough, clear, and helpful as you
possibly can. After all, that’s what you’d like your peer to do for you, right

Global Revision Checklist
Review the essay’s title as well as its
introduction and conclusion. Think about the
relationships among these three components. Do
they match or do they disagree Make note of
strengths and weaknesses in these crucial areas.
Find the essay’s thesis. Is it clear Is it well
positioned Does it meet all facets of the
assignment Review the written assignment to
ensure that your peer’s thesis is on target. Make
note of strengths and weaknesses.
Identify the topic sentence of each paragraph.
Do they all relate to the thesis Are they all
arguable, interpretive claims Make note of
strengths and weaknesses.
Identify the specific evidence from the primary
source(s) used to support each claim. Is the
evidence well chosen Is it well integrated Is it
interpreted and analyzed Make note of strengths
and weaknesses.
Observe the essay’s development of analytical
paragraphs. Does each paragraph involve
claim, context, evidence, analysis, commentary/
synthesis How might your peer improve the
development of analytical paragraphs
Identify specific uses of expert opinion. Are
these uses appropriate to the argument Are they
well chosen Are they interpreted and
commented upon Make note of strengths and
weaknesses.
Think carefully about the assumptions your peer
is making about how evidence relates to claim,
about what readers need or value, or about the
qualification/authority of sources. Are any of
these warrants problematic In other words,
does your peer expect the evidence to “speak for
itself” If so, this is a problem! Make note of
strengths and weaknesses.
Editing/Proofreading Checklist
Identify the writer’s transitions: words,
phrases and sentences that link ideas together
in the essay. Are they consistently effective
in creating a coherent argument Make note
of strengths or weaknesses in this area.
Are sentence structures correct and
effective, or are there fragments, comma
splices and fused sentences
Is grammar used effectively, or are there
errors in such issues as subject/verb
agreement, part of speech, pronoun case,
etc.
Examine the essay’s diction: Are words used
correctly and effectively, or are there
examples of words that have been misused or
are not thoroughly understood
Examine the citation of quoted or
paraphrased textual evidence. Is it ethically
and accurately cited according to MLA
citation style Make note of strengths and
weaknesses in this area
Are words consistently spelled correctly Is
the punctuation clear and effective Is the
essay free of distracting typos and other
mechanical errors
Does the essay follow the assigned format
completely and accurately