Revising and polishing your writing/ENGA104/The revision process/Reading2

Peer reviewing

Getting perspective

In the previous reading, you learned about the importance of peer reviewing as a way to get another pair of eyes and perspective on your work.

The following list from Section 11.3 of the Handbook for writers (2012), can be useful to peer review someone else's writing.

Twenty Questions for Peer Review:

1. What sort of audience is this writer trying to reach? Is that audience appropriate?
2. What three adjectives would you use to describe the writer’s personality in the draft?
3. How well does the draft respond to the assignment?
4. What is the draft’s purpose (to persuade? to inform? to entertain? something else?) and how well does it accomplish that purpose?
5. Where is the writer’s thesis? If the thesis is explicit, quote it; if it is implicit, paraphrase it.
6. What points are presented to support the thesis?
7. How do these points add value in helping to support the thesis?
8. How does the title convey the core idea in an interesting way?
9. How does the paper begin with a hook that grabs your attention? Suggest a different approach.
10. How effectively does the writer use visuals? How do they add value?
11. Where else could visuals be used effectively? Suggest specific visuals, if possible.
12. How are transitions used to help the flow of the writing? Cite the most effective and least effective transitions in the draft.
13. Is the draft free of errors in punctuation and grammar? If not, suggest three changes. If there are more than three errors, suggest where in this handbook the writer could find assistance.
14. How varied are the sentence styles and lengths? Give one example each of a short, simple sentence and a long, complex sentence in the draft.
15. What point of view is used throughout the paper?
16. How well does the conclusion wrap up the thesis? What else could the conclusion accomplish?
17. How are subheadings used, if they are used?
18. What are the strongest points of the draft?
19. What are the weakest points of the draft?
20. What else, if anything, is confusing?