ENGLISH 301: WRITING FOR THE PROFESSIONS
Instructor: Bruce Matsunaga
Class Line # 58498
Meets daily @ 7:40-9:20, ECG G319
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Peer Review Questions for Assignment One: Evaluation of Professional
Writing
A peer reviewers responsibility is to
communicate comments, questions, and suggestions to the author in a productive way. Your
response will be the primary feedback the author will use to improve his/her paper. Thus,
you should pay attention to moments when the author is effectively communicating ideas and
is engaging you as a reader, and you should notice when the author/reader communication
breaks down. Try not to focus on GMP (grammar, mechanics, and punctuation) errors
at this stage of the writing process.
- As a reader, what did you enjoy about this paper? Were there parts that peaked your
interest that you wish the author would explore in more detail? Which parts and why?
- TC
claims that "general readers" require interesting and well-written
documents. Are there any points at which the writing becomes less interesting or confusing
(you may wish to circle or mark these sections as well)? What changes or elaboration could
be made to make the writing clearer?
- What is the overall organizational structure of this paper? Does the structure help or
hinder your understanding of the authors points? Can you suggest a possible
alternative structure informational strategy--graphics, glossaries, outlines, etc.--which
may help to get the idea across?
- Does the translation seem suited for a "general reader?" Were there any terms
or words that were unclear to you? Circle the words that are unclear or unexplained.
- Does the author use a simple vocabulary and simple sentences to assist a "general
reader?" Circle sentences that seem confusing to you.
- Often "general readers" will not have the background knowledge that the author
has. Is there anything missing or unanswered that the author should fill in?
- Does the document contain both the evaluation of a publication and a brief summary of
one article? Are there some prompts on the assignment sheet that would enhance either part
of this paper?
- It is often helpful for the author to have his/her document glossed. Glossing is simply
identifying and stating the main idea of each paragraph in a simple sentence or phrase.
Gloss as much of the document as time allows.