Research Essay peer review

< style="font-family: arial;">Today in class, we will do a Peer Review of your Research Essay drafts. In groups of three or four, hand out copies of your draft. One at a time, each person should read his or her draft aloud. Since everyone in the group will have a copy of the essay in hand, listeners can take notes and mark passages while the writer is reading.

When the writer is finished reading, reviewers should take a moment to write on the back of their copy of the draft the ONE thing they liked best about it and ONE thing they think could be changed or improved. Reviewers should sign their name below their comments.

Once reviewers have written these comments on the back of their copy of the draft, they should answer the following questions aloud while the writer takes notes of what is said.

• What did you learn from this draft? What are you curious to learn more about?
• In your own words, what is the main point of this draft?
• In your own words, what are the sub-points which illustrate this main point?
• How well does the writer integrate testimony from outside sources? Does cited research fit into the “flow” of the paper, or does research material seem tacked on?
• How many different research sources does the writer refer to? Is there an over-reliance on any one source?
• Point to any places in the draft that lack research evidence or where the research support seems “thin.”
• In what ways does the beginning of this draft grab your attention?
• In what ways do the middle parts of this draft guide your thoughts?
• In what ways does the conclusion of this draft tie up the discussion?
• Where (if anywhere) was the language or reasoning unclear or awkward?
• If this were your draft, how would you revise it?

After reviewers have finished commenting on these questions, they should return all copies of the draft to the writer, and the group should move on to the next paper.