Peer Review: Improve Your Analytical Essay

One of the biggest challenges writers face is reading a draft of their own work as a reader rather than as the writer. Because you know what you’re trying to say, you find it easy to understand your draft. To determine how you should revise your draft, ask a friend or classmate to read your essay and consider how well you’ve adopted the role of interpreter.

Purposeimage
  1. Is my interpretive claim clear and easy to understand? Is it debatable?
  2. Have I offered a careful and thorough analysis to support my claim?
Readersimage
  1. Did the essay help you understand my subject in a new way? Why or why not?
  2. Does the analysis seem fair to you? Did you notice any cherry-picking? Can you think of any aspects of my subject that I neglected to consider?
Sourcesimage
  1. Are the reasons I’ve offered for my interpretation coherent? Have I provided enough evidence to support each reason? Should I add or drop anything?
  2. Do my sources strike you as reliable and appropriate? Does any of the evidence I’ve used seem questionable?
Contextimage
  1. Did I provide enough (or too much) information about my subject to ground the analysis?
  2. Does the interpretive framework I’ve chosen seem like an appropriate choice for analyzing my subject? Would a different framework have been more effective?

For each of the points listed above, ask your reviewers to provide concrete advice about what you could 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.