Peer Review Guidelines - USEFUL FOR YOUR PAPERS IN ALL CLASSES & PEER REVIEW EXTRA CREDIT 1. Mark what appears to be the thesis. If you cannot find one sentence which clearly states this, then paraphrase what you think might be the guiding idea of the paper.
2. Is the thesis a position? Does it take a stand on an issue from the texts? If not, how might it be changed to make it more of a position? If it is, what is the opposing position that is still arguable? Is the thesis narrow enough to be supported in this size of essay?
3. Organization of ideas. Are the paragraphs clearly related to each other? Could they be organized in a different order to make more sense together? Are paragraphs cohesive, staying on one point and following a logical order of progression throughout the paragraph?
4. Is there a clear introduction and conclusion? Do these add to the author’s position or are they mainly summary or unnecessary statements of purpose? Is the conclusion satisfying or is it just a restatement of the guiding idea?
5. Does the writer stay more or less on topic? Or are there ideas brought up that seem anomalous or which are not fully developed? Mark these.
6. Are each of the points the author makes supported to your satisfaction? Are you convinced by the evidence which the author has marshaled to support his or her claims? Is there sufficient evidence (quotes, explanations, examples from life and/or the text)? What points might need further development and support?
7. Are there any places where the essay is unclear (this could be caused by confusing wording or underdeveloped ideas)?
8. Is the author’s tone appropriate? If not, why not?
9. Are there direct quotes from the class texts? Are they introduced, integrated, cited, and fully discussed? Are the text references relevant and do they provide useful support?
Go here for some advice on transitions.
Go to this link for tips on writing thesis/ support essays
Go to this link for organization tips.
Go here for introduction and conclusion tips.
Forms of Support
EVIDENCE
· Facts
· Statistics
· Authorities
· Examples (real or hypothetical)
· Textual Citation and Analysis
· All evidential support still needs analysis to demonstrate how, why, in what way it proves the point
· Do not overload the reader
· 681-82
LOGOS – Logic & Reasoning
· Deductive Reasoning – apply general fact to specific situation; uses syllogism (two premises & conclusion)
· Inductive Reasoning – use observations & prior experiences to reach conclusions, including:
¨ Generalization
¨ Analogy
¨ Statistical Inference
· Watch out for Logical Fallacies
· 683-92
PATHOS – Appeal to Emotions
· Sympathy
· Fear
· Anger
· Belonging
· Pride/Vanity
· Should be used with other forms of support
· Should not be manipulative
· 692-94
ETHOS – Perception of Speaker
· Establish Credibility
· Be Generous to Other Points of View
· Do Not Show Off
· Only Claim What You Can and Do Support
· Proofread – Flawless Presentation
· 694-97
COUNTERARGUMENT
· Anticipate possible counterarguments
· Present those faithfully & respectfully
· Answer – fully – the counterargument
· You may need to qualify some of your own claims
· 697-98
More Advice on Reading at the College Level:
MSU’s Director of Composition, Dr. Kirk Branch, says that students often have one of two responses to reading difficult texts, either “I’m stupid,” or “The text is stupid/ boring/ poorly-written/ purposely-confusing.” These statements are both false. They are also both destructive as either one of these attitudes shuts down the potential for fruitful engagement with the material and leaves the reader frustrated and discouraged. I don’t want this to happen to you, so I have prepared some hints for reading college-level texts. Reading in this way should greatly aid your writing about and discussion of the texts.
- Go to class. Find out why your instructor assigned this piece, what he or she has to say about it, what you will be expected to do with your reading, and what you are expected to get from the reading. Has the instructor introduced any important themes or discussion topics? If so, references to these might be helpful to pay attention for as you read. At this stage it may be helpful to reflect on your own motivations, goals, and assumptions. Be aware that approaching any text with a negative attitude is generally counter-productive. Start reading with an open mind and you may be surprised. You may still be angered, disgusted, bored, delighted, or offended, and that is okay too. Make a note of those feelings to get them out of the way and allow room for more thoughtful response to the texts or to refer to during writing or discussion sessions.
- Preview the text. Do this by reading any introductory material and by skimming the text for headings, graphs, illustrations, size, and organization. Pay attention to the size of the paragraphs. From this preview, what do you think this text is about? What do you know about the author and his or her motivations for writing?
- Be physically prepared. Have your book, a notebook, something to mark with (pen, pencil, highlighter, etc.), and a dictionary all within reach. As you read, physically engage with the text through marking it, taking notes, looking up unfamiliar words, even googling the topic, author, or a key term.
- Read the text section by section, marking the text as you go. Some people like to take notes as they read while others find that extensive note-taking is distracting and prefer to save it for later. Get to know what your study style is like and what works best for you. Either way, some form of simple underlining or margin markings will be helpful when you return for a more in-depth look. After you read each section, take a couple minutes to reflect on it. What was the main point? Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why or why not? How does that section relate to the one before? Where do you think the author will go next? Write a brief summary of the section in your own words.
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- Mark the text. Save simple, inactive reading for novels or magazines. College requires active reading. Highlighting is not enough. Create a system of marking a text that meets your needs. Some methods involve:
- circling words to look up;
- putting question, exclamation, or check marks in the margin;
- writing short margin notes, such as the name of another author or piece that a particular section reminds you of (great for making connections between texts);
- writing short questions in the margin, such as why, how, what does this mean;
- numbering the author’s points so they are easy to find later;
- making diagrams of relationships between concepts, ideas, or examples where helpful;
- writing key terms in the margin next to their definitions or explanations so that you can find them easily later;
- writing a brief (possibly as short as one to two words) summary of each section in the margin;
- underlining or highlighting key phrases, sentences, or sections that seem important to you or that may be useful in summarizing the text;
- drawing vertical lines (or stars, or checkmarks) next to really important underlined material (this may be something you do the second or third time you read a text);
- remembering that there are as many ways of marking a text as there are critical readers, so find out what is most effective for you.
6. Use a dual-entry notebook for more in-depth processing of the text. This may sound like busy-work, but it will be very helpful when you go to write about the text. In your notebook, draw a vertical line down the middle. On the left-hand side, write quotes from the text that you underlined or otherwise marked as important or confusing. Include the page number for easy reference. The right-hand side of your notebook page is where you process the selected text. This can be anything from rewriting it in your own words, noting why it seems important, writing the questions it prompted, writing the definition of a word you looked up, writing your impression of or response to the text, to making preliminary connections with other knowledge, reading, or experience from your life or study.
The following advice from www.collegewriting.info may also be helpful:
What is “critical reading?”
Critical reading is careful, thorough, thoughtful, and active reading. It is not negative or quick reading. It is “college reading”–the kind of reading you are expected to do in college courses. You are involved in critical reading whenever you are interested in a text and you make a variety of comments about it as you read it. Academic text means a text that is specifically written for use by college instructors or students, or it is a text your instructor has assigned because of its usefulness in your college course.
If you must respond to a text, whether in writing, orally, in a test, or in a discussion group, you will need to read your text critically. Whether the text is chosen for you or you can make your own choice, you should do everything you can to understand it thoroughly. This is one of the most important keys to beginning a rough draft about a text. It should be obvious that you cannot write well about what you do not understand, but many people make the mistake of not completing a text, missing class discussion of it before a paper or a speech is due, or just rushing through it without really comprehending it fully. How is it done?
In critical reading, you take the time to think about what is on the page. Your reading must be active: passive reading, in which you simply read a text with no marking or discussion of it as you read it rarely sticks in the brain very long and very often is a waste of your time and an instructor’s. Even if you take notes and never look at them again, you are twice as likely to remember what you have read because you have processed the text actively.
Active, critical reading usually involves marking the text, so you need to have a printed copy to mark (even if only with pencil marks you later erase), or you need to write comments on paper using a system to note the page and paragraph or line number in your text. Active critical reading is not just the highlighting of important passages. It is that and much more: you should write regular margin notes. Such notes can include brief comments explaining your agreement or disagreement with important points, comparisons and contrasts to other texts or ideas, and new ideas that occur to you.
As part of this active reading strategy, you also should stop–at least briefly–after each page you have read. Then take some kind of note, if you haven’t already. At the end of each page you also should ask yourself, “Have I understood everything on this page?” You should be able to write a brief, one- or two-sentence summary of what the page says–and if you haven’t yet written a note for that page, summarizing it can be your note. Just looking at sentences and turning pages does not constitute critical reading. Critical reading means actively comprehending what you have seen on the page.
Another step in engaging in critical reading is to actively engage the text right after you have read it once. This means talking with others about it, putting the words into practice, making an alternative model of what has been discussed (for example, a story or a drawing), or simply writing about it.
To write, you may brainstorm freely about it by freewriting or by listing ideas or details. Simply let out your thoughts and feelings about it on paper, or if you are more comfortable outlining, then write an outline. You also can try imaging: what does the text make you imagine, and why or how? Yet another way is to imagine the audience for your own paper: what kinds of questions will it have about the paper? All of these may be useful methods for starting your own thinking processes about a text.
As you write, if you become stuck at some point because you have a question or some point is muddy to you, simply write down your questions or muddy points so that you can come back to them later. In this way, you can keep writing or outlining, thus maintaining the flow of your thoughts, your objective tone, and your energy for completing a first draft.
Once you have read a text critically, you are ready to start developing a paper (or speech) responding to it. As you develop your paper, you will need to refer again to your text and your notes about it frequently. If you have read actively by writing good notes, you will find writing your paper much easier.
© 2002-2004 by Richard Jewell. Nonprofit copying for education is allowed.
