Peer Editing

Letting someone else read your writing can be tough at first, but it is a really important step in writing strong papers. If there are improvements to be made, it is much better to hear it from a friend than it is to hear it from the person grading your paper. Once you become comfortable with others giving you feedback on your writing, you will be thankful for the suggestions they offer.

For your Stone Angel Essays you will be given marks for peer editing. Please edit two papers (This means that you will also have two people look at your paper). Each peer editor should use a different colour pen or pencil and clearly write their name on the essay, e.g. "Marked by..."

In order to do the best possible job of peer editing, read the paper twice. Each time you read you will be looking for something different. The first read is all about identifying obvious errors, such as spelling, punctuation or formatting issues. The second read through is more about looking at the paper as a whole. On the second read through, consider these questions:

Is the thesis clearly stated? Does the thesis answer the assigned question?

Are there 3-4 main points clearly stated in the introduction?

Does each main point have its own body paragraph?

Does each body paragraph use a quotation or detailed reference to the texts to support the mail point?

Is each quotation or detailed reference subjected to the writer's own original analysis.

Does the essay conclude properly?

Is the writing style clear?

You will be given a mark out of 10 for your effort as a peer evaluator. A 5/10 effort looks only at spelling, grammar and punctuation. A 10/10 effort catches those types of writing errors but also offers extensive commentary on the paper's strengths and areas of improvement.

Your marks as a peer evaluator will be added to your final essay mark, so if you get 75/100 on your essay, but 20/20 peer editing marks then your final will be 95/120 or 79%.

If you have comments about how to do this, post them here.