Dr. Dean Taciuch
George Mason University
Fall 2010
English 302
Peer Review
Please print these questions and bring them to class. In class, you will
each exchange a typed copy of your draft with another student. Read the draft,
then respond to the following questions:
Introduction:
- Who is the audience? Be as specific as possible (not "general audience").
Why would this audience be interested in this material?
- What is the purpose of this essay? Is this purpose appropriate for this
audience? (Would they, or should they, be interested?)
- What is the thesis or main point of the paper? Does this thesis fit the
intended audience and purpose? Is it trying to persuade those who can be
persuaded, for example?
Background (Literature Review)
- Locate and list the topic sentences (or main ideas) of each paragraph.
How are the topics organized? Could they be re-arranged?
- Within the paragraphs, do most of the key points have more than one source
of support? Are the citations clear?
- Identify any points which rely on only
one source, or an ambiguously cited source, for support.
Discussion and Conclusion
- Locate and list the topic sentences (or main ideas) of each paragraph.
How are the topics organized? Could they be re-arranged?
- Identify the thesis
in the conclusion. Does it match the thesis in the Introduction?
Write your responses on a sheet of paper, and give it and the draft back to
the author. I will collect peer reviews and drafts when I collect the final
papers.