· Bring this handout to every peer revision.
What
to do: The idea of a Peer Revision Workshop is that you will carefully read
peers' papers and write the following critiques in the margins, drawing an
arrow to the appropriate sentence(s):
Do
this first:
1) Locate
the thesis statement, circle it, and write "thesis."
2) Does
the opening paragraph identify a topic and then proceed to narrow a specific
aspect of that topic. Further, does the thesis statement seem to be the
natural result of that narrowing process? If so, say so. If not, say so.
Comments
to make as margin notes:
INSTRUCTIONS:
· Circle the word, phrase, or sentence, then draw a
line to the margin and write your comment.
UNFINISHED
THOUGHT -- Has the writer sufficiently finished the thought? Did
the sentence you just read require more explanation?
AWKWARD
--
Even if you are not sure how to fix the sentence, do you have the feeling that
it is difficult to read, that it sounds clunky?
UNCLEAR -- Do you have
to read the sentence more than once to understand it?
VAGUE -- Is the
sentence specific enough? Maybe the sentence is not awkwardly phrased or
unclear, and you may know exactly what the writer means, but the point being
made could be more specific. Example: "The effects of this new technology
are becoming more widespread." Specifically what effects? Are they
positive or negative?
WORDY -- Are there
loads of prepositions: at, of, to, by, for, in, etc. Saying it in fewer words
is usually better.
GENERALIZATION -- Does the
writer say any of the following: "everybody knows/thinks," "no
one believes." If so, these are generalizations
and should be avoided.
TYPOS,
SPELLING ERRORS, POOR PUNCTUATION -- Indicate where work is sloppy.
EXPLAIN
MORE -- Is there only a sentence or two of explanation after a quote?
There should be much more.
CHOICE OF QUOTE? -- Does the quote seem like a good
choice, or should the writer look for a stronger quote?
WORD
CHOICE -- Is there a word in the sentence you just read that seems like
a poor choice? If you can think of a better choice, then write it above the
word.
WHY
IS THIS IMPORTANT? -- Find an instance where the writer summarizes something from
the primary text, and then offers little or no interpretation to explain why it
was important to include the summary.
CITE THIS — Note anything
that you believe needs to be cited.
FINDING THE GOOD THINGS TO NOTATE:
· Use the list above to find where the
writer, for example, does finish a thought, or avoids wordiness
by employing clean and concise prose, or has a sufficiently long explanation
after a quote.
· Note these things in the margin too.