Peer Editing Guidelines for the "They Say" Paper

Please spend 30 minutes reviewing your classmate's paper according to the following guidelines. If you finish early, do not stop editing. Take the extra time to go back over your comments and make sure they are clear. Then, pass this draft on to a second peer-reviewer in your group. Once you have finished, discuss peer-review comments with your classmate. Write all peer-review feedback on your classmate's draft.

Respond to the following both in the body of your classmate's draft and on the blank back of the last page, if there is room (on a separate sheet of paper if there is not room).

Introduction/conclusion. Does the opening paragraph give you a clear sense of what this paper will be covering? Underline the sentence in the first paragraph that best helps you anticipate what this paper is about. Which idea is most likely to motivate you to keep reading this paper past the first paragraph? Restate it here (item "1" on the back of the last page of the draft). Is this something your classmate could emphasize more?

Second peer-reviewer: Examine the concluding paragraph. Does it adequately sum up what the paper has presented? Does it offer you means of appreciating what you have just read or applying it to subsequent directions for this topic? Underline the closing paragraph's most powerful idea. What should this writer change about the final paragraph.
Organization. Write a short outline of your classmate's argument. Begin with a sentence capturing the paper's overall argument, then add one topic sentence for each paragraph. Has your classmate arranged topics in the optimal manner? If not, explain how you would arrange them.

Second peer-reviewer: How well does this argument flow? Circle the paper's most effective transitional word or phrase. Is there a spot that needs a clearer transition in order to lead you from one idea from the next? If so, explain where and then offer a transitional word or phrase that will improve the flow there.
Evidence. Which quotation or paraphrase from a prior article is the most interesting to you? Draw a box around it and explain here (item "3" on the back of the last page of the draft) what makes it such interesting quotation and how it fits into the overall topic. How can you classmate integrate it better into the larger paper?

Second peer-reviewer: If you had to remove one quotation or paraphrase from this paper, which one would be the first to go? Draw a vertical line to the left of it in the margin and explain why you chose that one as the lowest priority quotation or paraphrase here (item "3" on the back of the last page of the draft).
Sign your classmate's draft after you have peer-reviewed it.

Please turn in one peer-reviewed draft of your op-ed along with the final draft on October 12th, 2017. When I grade the final draft, I expect some revisions in response to peer-review comments. I will look over peer-editing comments and give your peer reviewer credit for them when I grade the final drafts.