Peer Review: Improve Your Argumentative Essay

One of the biggest challenges writers face is reading their own work as a reader rather than as the writer. Because you know what you’re trying to say, you’ll find it easy to understand your draft. To determine what you should do to revise your draft, ask a friend or classmate to read your essay and to answer the following questions.

Purposeimage
  1. How do you interpret my purpose for writing? Does my goal seem to be to convince or to persuade?
  2. Is my overall claim plausible and debatable? Do you agree with what I am saying? If not, what should I do to convince you?
  3. Do the reasons I’ve offered to support my claim seem sufficient and appropriate?
Readersimage
  1. Do you accept the connections I’ve made (or have assumed to exist) between my reasons and my overall claim?
  2. Do you find the issue significant? Why or why not?
  3. Does my reasoning seem sound? Did you catch any fallacies?
  4. Have I used argumentative appeals appropriately and effectively? Should I consider making any other kinds of appeals?
Sourcesimage
  1. Does the evidence I’ve offered to support my appeals make sense? Can I add or clarify anything to help you understand the argument better? Do you think any of the evidence is unnecessary?
  2. Do my sources strike you as reliable and appropriate? Does any of the evidence I’ve used seem questionable? Have I relied on any sources too heavily?
  3. Is it clear which ideas and information are my own and which came from my sources?
Contextimage
  1. Have I clearly introduced and effectively handled counterarguments? Did I present them fairly?
  2. How familiar were you with this issue before reading my essay? Do I need to provide more (or less) background information or context? Did I fail to include any reasons or evidence that you expected?
  3. Could I strengthen any of my appeals by bringing in design elements, such as photographs or tables?

For each of the points listed above, ask your reviewers to provide concrete advice about what you should do to improve your draft. It can help if you ask them to adopt the role of an editor — someone who is working with you to improve your draft. You can read more about peer review in Chapter 4.