This activity not
only provides an early opportunity for peer review but introduces you to
revising and editing tools in Google Docs that we will use throughout the semester,
allowing you to track revisions using the "suggesting mode" and to "insert comments" on
your peer's draft to reveal any revisions or suggestions you make during the
process.
Follow the steps
below as you review and comment on your peer’s first draft.
- Have each member of the group briefly
describe the main point of the essay.
- Trade papers (switch computers) with
someone in your peer group.
- Read your peer’s paper through one time
without making any marks on it. Does it follow the author's intentions as
stated in the thesis statement and as described in his or her own commentary?
- Read it through a second time, this time starting
with the last paragraph, highlighting and/or correcting any "surface errors" such as spelling or grammatical concerns. If using a computer to revise, be sure to activate track changes before making
revisions to the essay (under the "review" tab).
Now focus on each of
the parts of the essay, asking yourself the following questions for each
section. Place two constructive comments in the margin of each element
(including two for each body paragraph). Computer classes, select the word or
phrase you wish to analyze and use the insert comment function
("review" tab); please avoid selecting complete sentences when using this function.
INTRODUCTION: familiarizes
the reader with the "big issue" surrounding your essay before revealing the
focus of your argument or point in the thesis statement
- Do its details about the "big issue" move
from general to specific?
- Does it lead up appropriately to the
thesis statement?
THESIS: guides
the shape of your paper by indicating the direction of your analysis
- Does it include a single,
straightforward point that your reader can identify?
- Does it include an evaluative statement
or slant about that theme or is it merely a statement of fact?
- Is it just one sentence?
- Does it fit within the context of the
introductory paragraph? Are additional transitional phrases necessary?
BODY PARAGRAPHS: aim
to ensure unified, organized support for your thesis
- Read through each body paragraph again,
one at a time.
- Does each paragraph start with a strong topic sentence? Highlight it.
- Write/type in the margin your perception of the topic of each paragraph.
- Is the paragraph unified? Does it only
talk about one topic, or does it present multiple ideas?
- Are quotations included and properly cited?
- If dialog exists, how does it "sound"? Does it make sense?
CONCLUSION: closes
the essay and guides the reader back out to the "big issue" without
restating the thesis statement
- Does it include the phrases "in
conclusion," "in summary," "to reiterare the
thesis"? IT SHOULDN'T!
- Does it stay on topic with the "big
issue" ideas posed in the introductory paragraph?
Before returning the
essay to its author, insert a comment at the end of the last page of text two
things that the author did well and two things you think they should focus
on as they prepare their final draft.
