Peer Editing Guidelines

History 100.81 Essay 5: Due 4/21/97 Peer Review and Revision

Today I would like you to benefit from more than one person's perspective on your drafts. Please exchange papers with someone and edit for 25 minutes. At 10:35, switch papers with someone else and do the same thing.

You may write your suggestions on the paper itself or on a separate sheet, but I recommend a separate sheet for comments of more than a few words. Bring different-colored pens (or a pen and a pencil) so that the author can distinguish one set of comments from the other. Please sign your name to your comments.
You may, of course, continue this exercise outside of class.
On your peers' papers:

Some issues to keep in mind (the five "C"s):

Clarity - Does the paper communicate the author's ideas clearly and effectively, or do you have to struggle and reread to figure out what the author is trying to say?
Pointing out places where the paper is unclear is an editor's most important task.
Efffective communication is the entire point of writing.

Completeness - Could someone who had not read Moore understand and learn from the review?

Concision - Can you eliminate extraneous words, phrases, or sentences? Can you suggest ways to rephrase sentences more effectively (changing passive to active, compressing two sentences into one with a main and subordinate clause, eliminating redundancy, etc.)?

Cohesion- Does the review hang together, or does the author leap from thought to thought without logical transition? Is each paragraph organized around a single idea, which the author develops and illustrates sufficiently before moving on?

Correctness - Though it is not your duty to fix each grammatical glitch, everyone appreciates an alert and rigorous proofreader. If you find obvious errors or typos, mark them. Are quotations used correctly and cited accurately and fully? Are words used improperly? Don't feel awkward about having to judge a friend's writing--what you are looking at is only a draft, and mistakes are to be expected. If you catch errors before I see them, you are doing your classmate a favor.

On your own paper:

Take your classmates' comments into account when revising your essay. Bear in mind that you don't necessarily have to incorporate your editors' suggestions, though. You may disagree with their remarks.

On Monday, please give me a hard copy of your draft (with peer comments), your final paper, and your completed checklist. I have not required you to underline words that you looked up in the dictionary this time; I figured you already had enough to keep track of. Besides, I can tell who is using a dictionary and who is not.

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Clarity -	Does the paper communicate the author's ideas clearly and effectively, or do you have to struggle and reread to figure out what the author is trying to say? Pointing out places where the paper is unclear is an editor's most important task. Efffective communication is the entire point of writing.
Completeness -	Could someone who had not read Moore understand and learn from the review?
Concision -	Can you eliminate extraneous words, phrases, or sentences? Can you suggest ways to rephrase sentences more effectively (changing passive to active, compressing two sentences into one with a main and subordinate clause, eliminating redundancy, etc.)?
Cohesion-	Does the review hang together, or does the author leap from thought to thought without logical transition? Is each paragraph organized around a single idea, which the author develops and illustrates sufficiently before moving on?
Correctness -	Though it is not your duty to fix each grammatical glitch, everyone appreciates an alert and rigorous proofreader. If you find obvious errors or typos, mark them. Are quotations used correctly and cited accurately and fully? Are words used improperly? Don't feel awkward about having to judge a friend's writing--what you are looking at is only a draft, and mistakes are to be expected. If you catch errors before I see them, you are doing your classmate a favor.