Written Peer Feedback Assignment: Letter

You can thank Julia (9:05 TA) for writing these helpful guidelines. Here they are:

due Monday, October 27th, 2008
2 pages, double spaced
(TWO COPIES)

What’s Due:

For this assignment, you’re going to read a classmate’s rough draft and give them thorough feedback in the form of letter. Be sure to use the “you” pronoun and speak directly to the writer rather than “about” them. Also, since you are only reading one essay for this assignment, really take the time to give thoughtful, detailed comments.

Feel free to write about any aspects of the paper that stand out to you, but try to focus on telling your classmate the big picture about what you see in their essay, rather than just if you liked or didn’t like it. Try to start about by describing what you’ve read and pointing out the places the essay is working before you go on to constructive criticism; however, don’t be afraid to be honest with the writer about how they can improve their work.

By telling the writer what how his or her paper reads, you will help them see how well they’ve accomplished what they intended, and where they need to do more work.

Use these questions as guidelines:

What is the writer’s main point or main points? What is their argument, or if this is not an argumentative paper, what themes emerge that connect the narrative or personal experiences to a larger context? Where is the argument most convincing? Are there places where it is weaker? Where do you see larger themes emerging, if this is a personal essay? Are there places where the themes could be brought out more?

What is the writer’s purpose for the paper? Are they trying to describe, explain, narrate, compare, persuade, inform, or something else? Are they doing a combination of these things? Where is their purpose most strongly felt? What did you learn from this essay that you didn’t know before, or how were your ideas on the topic changed? Did the essay make you think about things in a new way, or move you emotionally?

What audience do you think the writer is writing for? Is it an academic audience or a more general audience? Are they writing for members of a specific community or interest group, or for the larger community? What kinds of things give you clues about the writer’s imagined audience?

What is the tone of the paper? What kind of diction and vocabulary do they use? Is it more academic or more conversational? What sentences or word choices give you clues to the tone? Do you think the tone fits with the audience and purpose of the essay? Are there places where the tone is inconsistent?

Don’t forget to bring two copies of your feedback to class.