Writer's Memo

 

On a separate, typed sheet of paper, answer the following questions:

 

  1. What do you like most about your paper?  (Explain the strengths of your essay.)

 

  1. What do you like least?  (What is still not working as well as you'd like?  Why couldn't you fix it?)

 

  1. What passage did you work hardest on?

 

  1. What else would like me to know about your processes or experience of writing this paper?  (Any miscellaneous tragedies you feel you must report?)

 

  1. Based on your understanding of the requirements for this assignment, what grade does this paper earn?  Why?

 

Peer Review Exercise

 

I. Argument

 

     1.  Read the first paragraph and identify the thesis statement/conclusion.

 

            i.  Is this an arguable thesis?  If so, go to ii.   If not, how would you

                revise is to make it arguable?

           ii.  If this were your essay, how would you argue this thesis?  What kind

                of analysis and/or  evidence would you use to support it?

 

     2.   Finish reading the essay.  Identify the premises.  Do  they support the

           thesis/conclusion?  Considering what  you wrote for 1.ii., what additional

           premises can you think of that would strengthen the essay?  Or, the turn

           it around, would the removal of ambiguous and/or irrelevant  premises

           strengthen the argument?

 

II. Organization

 

     1.  Introduction

 

            i.  Is the thesis sentence found in the introduction?

           ii.  Does the introduction grab your attention?  Does it make you want

                to read the essay?  (Remember,  I have to read 23 of these, so getting

                and holding my attention is important.)  If so, how? If not,  think about

                the rest of the essay and propose an   introduction that might.

 

     2.  Body Paragraphs

 

            i.  Are there strong transitions between paragraphs,  or does the essay

                seem to consist of independent blocks of analysis?  If the former, how

                do these strong transitions work?  If the latter,consider  how these body

                paragraphs function as premises for  the essay's argument and suggest

                ways in which they could be related to each other.

           ii.  Are the paragraphs themselves coherent arguments?  That is, do they

                have topic sentences that function as conclusions for the paragraph's argument?

                If so, run the premise/conclusion drill on a sample paragraph.   If not,

    determine what the paragraph is attempting to argue and generate a topic

    sentence.

 

     3.  Conclusion

 

             i. Does it accurately represent the essay's argument?   That is, has the author

                effectively proven what they promised they would prove in their introduction?

            ii. Does it acknowledge the limitations of an argument  based on only 2 essays, or

                does it claim to be the last word on the subject matter? If the former, does

                it suggest some possible alternative interpretation (and if it doesn't, you

                should)?  If the latter, make 2 counter-arguments that you feel the writer of the

                essay should be made aware of.

 

III. Language

 

      1.  Is the paper riddled with spelling/grammar errors?

      2.  Are there contractions?  (There shouldn't be.)

      3.  How readable is this essay?  Could you understand what  the author was trying

           to say, or was their meaning obscured by language errors?

      4.  Is the tone of the essay academic or conversational?   That is, did it  sound like you

           were reading the writing of a sophisticated author?  Or did it sound like the author

           was just talking to you?