Peer Review Checklist

This sort of form can be distributed after a peer review in order to ensure that students actually make use of their peer commentaries. It also aims to reinforce the need for a disciplined writing process.

Make sure to include the following steps in your writing process. The essay is due at the beginning of class, [date].

1. Reread your peer reviewers' comments

2. Check your thesis. Make sure it is specific enough to be covered adequately in the space of your discussion. Make sure that your thesis is interesting and thought-provoking. It should be contestable as well as capable of complication and development.

3. Defend your thesis. Why should readers accept the claim that you are making? You should present each subordinate claim or fundamental assumption of your essay in a separate paragraph. Be sure to support each claim by ensuring that it is "warranted." What evidence or reasoning supports your claim? If you can't explain why a particular claim should be accepted, or why a particular piece of evidence supports a claim, you probably need to cut: irrelevant material will confuse your reader and make your essay less persuasive. Always maintain a sharp focus on your basic claim. Always write with a purpose, paragraph by paragraph.

4. Be specific. Stay away from vague generalizations.

5. Check your thesis again. Often you will write yourself into a clearer understanding of the points you want to make. If so, go back and adjust your opening to anticipate your new understanding.

6. Conclusion. Read Bedford 2c on conclusions. Your last paragraph should echo the main idea without dully repeating it. Bedford suggests several strategies for ending.

7. Paragraph check: Does each paragraph contain a topic sentence that links back to your thesis? Does each paragraph develop a single point? Does each one contribute to the purpose of your essay, which is to persuade?

8. Edit and proofread: Check for grammatical errors. Aim to replace linking verbs with active verbs. Read your paper aloud to yourself. Often you will hear what your eyes miss. Use the spell check on your computer, but with a critical eye (sometimes the computer won't recognize a word and will suggest an inappropriate replacement).

9. Check our eradication list: currently, we're targeting the incorrect use of "that" to refer to people: use "who" or "whom" for people, "that" for everything else.

10. Check the format of your essay: Use the MLA style of citations as explained in The Bedford Handbook. The Bedford also includes sample essays using this form. Note that you must have a Works Cited page.

11. Attached your peer review sheets and prospectus to your essay.

12. Final housekeeping. Have you numbered your pages and stapled them?