Completing a Peer Review

After working so closely with a piece of writing, writers often need to step back and ask for a more objective reader. Writers need feedback from readers who can respond only to the words on the page. When they are ready, writers show their drafts to someone they respect and who can give an honest response about their strengths and weaknesses.

You, too, can ask a peer to read your draft when it is ready. After evaluating the feedback and assessing what is most helpful, the reader’s feedback will help you when you revise your draft. This process is called peer review.

You can work with a partner in your class and identify specific ways to strengthen each other’s essays. Although you may be uncomfortable sharing your writing at first, remember that each writer is working toward the same goal: a final draft that fits the audience and the purpose. Maintaining a positive attitude when providing feedback will put you and your partner at ease. If your instructor doesn’t provide you with specific questions or a rubric to use when evaluating a peer’s essay, consider the following questions:

Questions for Peer Review

Title of essay: ____________________________________________

Date: ____________________________________________

Writer’s name: ____________________________________________

Peer reviewer’s name: _________________________________________

1. This essay is about____________________________________________.
2. Your main points in this essay are____________________________________________.
3. What I most liked about this essay is____________________________________________.
4. These three points struck me as your strongest:
   1. Point: ____________________________________________
   2. Why: ____________________________________________
   3. Point: ____________________________________________
   4. Why: ____________________________________________
   5. Point: ____________________________________________
   6. Why: ____________________________________________
5. These places in your essay are not clear to me:
   1. Where: ____________________________________________
   2. Needs improvement because__________________________________________
   3. Where: ____________________________________________
   4. Needs improvement because ____________________________________________
   5. Where: ____________________________________________
   6. Needs improvement because ____________________________________________
6. The one additional change you could make that would improve this essay significantly is ____________________________________________.