Peer Review for Assignment #4

Author: ______Readers:______

For assignment 4, we ask you to do a revision of your first paper. That does not mean that you should just copy-edit or clean up the paper grammatically. You should consider this revision as a re-visioning of your paper. The heuristics provide prompts to help you see your paper in a new way. I have allowed you more freedom in your revision, but it should do at least one of the following:

Significantly expand or develop the main idea or thesis: new evidence, new examples and illustrations, the inclusion of (and response to) counter-arguments, a fuller development of the introduction and conclusion, etc.

Significantly change your main idea or thesis: different lines of reasoning, inclusion of (and response to) counter-arguments, argue an opposite point, etc.

Directions:

Quietly read the entire draft through once, perhaps circling or checking problematic sentences or paragraphs.
Read the peer review questions.
Then read the paper again and now answer the questions as fully and honestly as you hope your reader will for you. Use a separate sheet of paper and put your name on it.

Some basic questions that apply to all papers:

As a reader, what did you enjoy about this paper? Were there parts that peaked your interest that you wish the author would explore in more detail? Which parts and why?

Describe at what points the writing becomes less interesting or confusing (you may wish to circle or mark these sections as well). What changes or elaboration could be made to make the writing clearer? Is there anything missing or unanswered for you as a reader?

Is the style suited to the subject? Is it too formal? Too casual? Too technical? Too bland?

Highlight a favorite passage or sentence from this paper. What makes this passage or sentence work for you? Is it a certain technique, tone, method of description, or some combination that makes it successful?

Are there any sections or sentences that seem out of place? This often happens when revising papers.