Peer Editing Guidelines for the Poem Analysis

Please spend 35 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. This may require you to add more comments and add emphasis to comments you have already made. Once you have finished, discuss peer-editing comments with your classmate.

Answer the following questions on the back of the last page of your classmate's draft.

1. Approach—Does this paper satisfy the demands of the assignment? Does it focus clearly on a specific poem by Keats from the syllabus? Is it appropriate for its audience (other students in this class)?

2. Thesis—What is the central claim that your classmate makes about this poem? Is this claim arguable (could a reasonable person present a counterargument to it)? If you cannot identify a clear thesis statement, then tell your classmate and offer suggestions about how to formulate a better one.

3. Writing Style—Indicate any unclear sentences or any particularly effective sentences. Watch out for uses of the passive voice or excessively wordy sentences. Overall, what are the strengths and weaknesses of this paper's writing style? Are the sentences too complicated and hard to follow, or are they too simple and slow-paced, or do they strike a good balance between these two tendencies?

4. Organization—Provide a brief outline of your classmate's argument. Does each paragraph have a clear topic? Do transitions lead the reader effectively from one idea to the next? Do the paragraphs tend to be too short (thus making the paper seem fragmentary)? Or, are the paragraphs too long (thus leading readers to get lost in the flow of ideas)?

5. Evidence—Are there claims that need more support from details in the text? Which detail from the text makes the strongest impression on you as you read this review? Indicate any quotation or portion of a quotation that does not receive enough analysis to make its inclusion in the argument worthwhile. Remember that each paper should include a Works Cited list at the end and parenthetical page numbers for any quotation or paraphrase included in the body of the paper.

6. Questions? Write three questions you have about the review that will help your classmate develop the argument further.

7. Sign your classmate's draft after you have peer-edited it.

Please turn in one peer-edited draft of your paper along with the final draft. When I grade the final draft, I expect some revisions in response to peer-editing comments, though nothing obligates you to follow all of your peer editor's advice. I will look over peer-editing comments and give your peer editor credit for them when I grade the final drafts.