ENGL 1301 Peer Review Essay 1

1. Does the essay follow the assignment (narrative about incident in life that reveals insight into author’s personality)? 2. What is the main point/insight of the narrative? State it in a sentence. Is the main point/insight interesting? Why or why not? 3. Did the author seem to consider how his/her identity relates to his/her community? 4. Does the author develop the ideas that he/she presents? Does the author provide clear reasoning for these ideas? 5. What are the key events? Are any key events missing? 6. Does all of the action relate to the main point? Are any key events extraneous? 7. Does the narrative have a conflict? Is it resolved? How? 8. What is the essay’s tone? How is this tone (or tones if changes) conveyed? 9. Does the essay have descriptions? What dominant impression does each description create? 10. At what point does the paper fail to hold my interest? Why? 11. Is there anything in the essay that you didn’t understand? If so, what? 12. Is the narrative told in a coherent manner? Are there places where transitions might help the story flow better? Where? 13. Where is the writing unclear or vague? 14. If dialogue is used, is it used well? Does it ring true?

Three Things to Focus On Avoid Overgeneralizations: statements that are too broad—there are exceptions Avoid Incorrect Use of “You”: making statements that assume too much about the reader Avoid Passive Voice: where object of action (that which has something done to it) is subject of sentence

Avoid Overgeneralizations Statements that are too broad—there are exceptions: Example: “Everyone knows that...” Correction: “Many people know that...” Example: “Families which communicate openly are happy families.” Correction: “Families which communicate openly tend to be happier than those that don’t.”

Be Wary When Using “You” or “We” Don’t make statements that assume too much about your reader: Example: “When you see this, you realize how important hope is if you want to survive.” Correction—own your statement: “When I saw this, I realized how important hope is to my survival.” Or make a general statement: “This situation demonstrates how important hope is to one’s ability to survive.” Or, if use you, qualify it, “If you saw this situation, you might realize that hope can be necessary to your survival.”

Avoid Passive Voice Object of action (that which has something done to it) is subject of sentence: Example: “Meg was run over by a truck.” Correction—use active voice, make the subject the “doer” not the “done to”: “The truck ran over Meg.” Caveat—sometimes passive voice makes more sense, for example, “Meg was taken to Parkland hospital” rather than “The ambulance took Meg to Parkland hospital.”

Correct errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and appearance of essay Be wary of spell check & grammar check Print out & read slowly through paper, moving finger along Read “backwards” Look for grammar errors first, then punctuation, then spelling See Meaning of Symbols sheet Proofreading/Editing