Rough Drafts and Peer Reviews

Please check the schedule and weekly overviews for exact rough and final draft due dates.

The Rough Draft and Peer Review process for this class will take place on a discussion forum. Your initial post on draft weeks will be your uploaded first draft, and your responses will be your reviews of two of your group members’ papers.

A late draft will not receive credit, and may not be in time for feedback from your peers.

Follow this four-step process:

Upload your draft to the discussion forum by 11:59 pm on Monday of the week a paper is due.
Commit to reviewing two of your group members’ papers, and let the authors know which two you’ve chosen. Each posted paper must have at least two committed reviewers, so choose papers that are lacking reviewers if possible.
Review two of your group members' papers by 11:59 pm on Wednesday of the same week.

For full credit, you must submit both an annotated copy of the paper and a completed response form (see below).

Continue to use the forum throughout the week to ask your reviewers clarifying questions, make suggestions, or try out ideas.
*EXTRA CREDIT* For 5 points extra credit, you may review a third person’s paper. Please help me make sure that everyone in the group gets at least two peer reviews! If possible, select a paper that has not yet been reviewed.

The final draft of your paper will be due at 11:59 pm on Friday of that week.

Step 1: Upload

Scroll to the bottom of the discussion page and click “Reply” to start your post. Write a brief introduction message—something like "Hi everyone, here is my amazing draft!" It would be helpful to write a little note to potential reviewers about the topic of your paper and the specific issues you would like feedback on.
At the bottom of the text editing box, click "Attach," then "Choose File" to choose your document.
When you're ready, "Post Reply" to send your draft to your group.

Try to submit as complete a draft as possible—the more your draft resembles a finished essay, the more useful your feedback will be. However, any draft is better than no draft! Even a detailed outline will receive credit if submitted on time.

Step 2: Commit

On Monday night, scroll through the list of uploaded papers in your group and choose two that interest you, and that do not already have two committed reviewers.
Click “reply” to the two posts and leave a message indicating that you have selected those papers.
Download the two papers, along with the response form. Make a copy of the response form for each paper you plan to review.

Step 3: Review

Read and annotate each paper in Microsoft Word. As you read, use Word’s annotation features to write comments, observations, and questions. For help using annotation, check Microsoft’s support pages.
You should aim for at least four short annotations on each paper, but no more than four or five per page. Save longer comments and suggestions for the response form. Feel free to edit mistakes and revise sentences on the draft, but don’t get too caught up in this, especially if the writer needs to reorganize or shift the paper’s focus substantially.
Fill out a response form for each paper. You will need to write a short analysis of 3–4 sentences for each of the criteria listed.
Upload your annotated copies and response forms to the forum as a reply to the original poster.

Step 4: Continue

Keep coming back to the forum throughout the week to ask clarifying questions, make suggestions, or try out ideas.

Peer reviews give students multiple perspectives on their papers, broadening the audience beyond the instructor. Your peers will help you strengthen and clarify your arguments, and you will hone your own revision skills as you assess the work of other students. Give each paper a rigorous reading that provides specific praise, constructive criticism, and concrete revision examples. Peer Responses should be specific, thorough, insightful, and diplomatic.

Guidelines for all comments:

Concentrate on the essay’s focus, main theme, or thesis. In your own words, tell the writer what you think the main point of the essay is. Is there a clear focus to the essay? Is it relevant, interesting, significant, and/or debatable (in the case of argument-based writing)?
Engage the specific ideas and paragraphs in the body of the essay. Someone reading your comments should understand the paper’s main ideas without ever having seen the actual essay. Your response should include sufficient references to particular paragraphs and ideas. Remember that I don’t know what you’ve written on the paper itself, so make your references specific in the response.
Provide concrete examples of ways the writer could revise. Don’t just point out what is wrong—suggest alternative wording or organization.
Make your positive comments specific and meaningful. Comments like “the paper flows really well” or “your ideas are good” are not specific or helpful. Explain which ideas are good and why certain things in the paper are effective.
Be sure your compliments don’t contradict your criticisms. For example, if “the focus is too broad,” it is unlikely that the essay “developed its argument very well.” If the thesis/focus is not specific, development and organization are most likely in trouble too. Be honest in your compliments.
Treat your peer’s paper as you would your own. Don’t command the writer to follow your advice; instead, offer it as something to consider. Discuss what the essay does or doesn’t do, rather than what your peer does or doesn’t do. Make your criticisms constructive, not destructive. Use a friendly tone.