Evaluating the Draft: Using Peer Review

Your instructor may arrange a peer review session in class or online, where you can exchange drafts with your classmates and give one another a thoughtful critical reading, pointing out what works well and suggesting ways to improve the draft. A good critical reading does three things:

  1. It lets the writer know how well the reader understands the cultural significance of the subject.

  2. It praises what works best.

  3. It indicates where the draft could be improved and makes suggestions on how to improve it.

One strategy for evaluating a draft is to use the basic features of profiles as a guide.

A PEER REVIEW GUIDE

Click the Peer Review Guide to download.

Specific Information about the Subject Does the writer portray the subject in enough well-chosen detail to show us why it’s interesting?

Summarize: Tell the writer one thing you learned about the subject from reading the essay.

Praise: Point out one passage where the description seems especially vivid, a quotation stands out, or another writing strategy works particularly well to present information.

Critique: Point out one passage where description could be added or where the description could be made more vivid, where a quotation that falls flat should be paraphrased or summarized, or where another writing strategy could be used.

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A Clear, Logical Organization Is the profile easy to follow?

Summarize: Identify the kind of organization—narrative, topical, or a blend of the two—that the writer uses.

Praise: Comment on the cues the writer gives that make the profile easy to follow. For example, point to a place where one topic leads logically to the next or where transitions help you follow the tour or narrative. Also, indicate what in the opening paragraphs grabs your attention or why you think the ending works well.

Critique: Point to information that seems out of place or instances where the chronology is confusing. If you think the opening or ending could be improved, suggest an alternative passage in the essay that could work as an opening or an ending.
The Writer’s Role Is the author’s role clear, whether it is spectator, participant-observer, or both?

Summarize: Identify the role the writer adopts.

Praise: Point to a passage where the spectator or participant-observer role enables you to identify with the writer, enhancing the essay’s immedacy or interest.

Critique: Point out any problems with the role—for example, if the participant-observer role becomes distracting or if the spectator role seems too distant.
A Perspective on the Subject Does the author have a clear point of view on the subject?

Summarize: State briefly what you believe to be the writer’s perspective on the subject and the dominant impression you get from the essay.

Praise: Give an example where you have a strong sense of the writer’s perspective through a comment, description, quotation, or bit of information.

Critique: Tell the writer if the essay does not have a clear perspective or convey a dominant impression. To help him or her find one, explain what interests you about the subject and what you think is important. If you see contradictions in the draft that could be developed to make the profile more complex and illuminating, briefly explain.

Before concluding your review, be sure to address any of the writer’s concerns that have not already been addressed.

Making Comments Electronically Most word processing software offers features that allow you to insert comments directly into the text of someone else’s document. Many readers prefer to make their comments this way because it tends to be faster than writing on hard copy, and space is virtually unlimited; it also eliminates the process of deciphering handwritten comments. Where such features are not available, simply typing comments directly into a document in a contrasting color can provide the same advantages.