Peer Response 2

Your comments and advice are not restricted to these numbered items: if other ideas for improving the paper occur to you, share them.  Feel free to mark on the draft, but write your response to the questions below on separate paper.  Give your response to the paper's author so that he or she can review your suggestions and turn in your response with his or her paper.  And in a tactful way, be mean!  Be critical!

1. After reading it through a first time, state your initial impression of the paper.

2. Evaluate the introduction and make suggestions for improvement. Consider:

  • Is the intro a fully developed paragraph?  Too brief?  Suggest how the intro could be developed more effectively: make your suggestions specific.
  • Any places where the intro is choppy?  Suggest transitions where needed.
  • Consider whether the paragraph flows smoothly into the intro question.  Suggest improvements for leading into the question.
  • Suggest improvements in the intro question itself.  Does it address the assigned topic squarely?  Does it set up the issue or topic that the body of the paper addresses?
    • 3. If the paper presents an argument (which option 1 requires—the one on stereotypes and gender), is the opposing viewpoint addressed fairly and completely?  Suggest specific improvements that would strengthen the effectiveness of the opposing view.

    4. Identify the topic sentence of each body paragraph.  If there is no obvious topic sentence in any body paragraph, suggest one.  Make suggestions for improving existing topic sentences—note that each topic sentence should answer the intro question squarely and directly (see writing tips item #2).

    5. Only if the paper addresses option 1 or 2 (gender myths or love): does the paper present the author's ideas or the poets'?  That is, does the discussion focus more on the poetry or the author's views on the topic?  Explain.  (The assignment asks that the author answer the intro question with his or her own thoughts, referring to the poems mainly as "secondary sources," like articles of criticism or research, used only to illustrate and or support the author's own views.)

    6. Point out paragraphs that seem too brief or undeveloped.  Make specific suggestions for improving underdeveloped paragraphs.  Also point out "busy" or overly long paragraphs that make more than one major point—indicate where the author should break these paragraphs into smaller units.

    7. Identify places where the author needs to explain a specific point in more detail.  Identify places where the paper needs more evidence or illustration to make points more effective.  Offer specific suggestions.

    8. Point out any unnecessary summary or "retelling" of the poetry (Nugget 1).

    9. Suggest improvements in the author's use of quotations. Too many quotes?  Too few?  Suggest specific passages that the author might quote to illustrate the paper's primary assertions.  Suggest improvements in the introduction of quotes (Nugget 3).

    10. Indicate any words that strike you as awkward; indicate any words you think the author may be using incorrectly.

    11. Grammar and mechanics—especially "simple stuff," golden rules and nuggets, and quotes and documentation.  Are the poems cited and documented correctly (See QD4)?

    QD4lb ("lb" for "line breaks"): slashes, with one typed space before and after each, between lines of poetry not set off as block quotes.
    QD4b ("b" for "block"): block indention of more than three lines of poetry as they appear in the original source.
    QD4ln ("ln" for "line numbers"): put line numbers, not page numbers, in parentheses for quotations of poetry.