Today we will do Peer Reviews of yesterday’s timed essays. You have been given the essay of another student with the name removed. Put your name in the upper right hand corner of the essay you are reviewing. The goal is to help you develop your own writing skills through seeing how another student responded, as well as helping that other student revise their timed essay.

We are going to work today to determine what makes a quality essay. Let’s start by reviewing the scoring rubric. This is what I am going to use to score your essays.

1.  Now that we understand how your essay will be graded, look at the essay you have been given. Read the first paragraph carefully. Ask your self the following questions about the thesis and then highlight or underline the thesis or main claim on the essay you are reviewing.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

• Is there a thesis?
• Is it located at the end of the introduction?
• Does it introduce the main ideas of the essay?

2. Great, now let’s move on to the body paragraphs. Ask your self the following questions about each body paragraph, and write a one-sentence summary next to each body paragraph. Then determine how the ideas of the body paragraph are connected to the main claim of the essay. You should then write a brief summary next to the thesis statement describing the organization and connection between various ideas of the essay.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

• Does each body paragraph have a main idea?
• Do the body paragraphs support the thesis?

3. Next you will evaluate the evidence provided in the body paragraphs. Read the following questions and then underneath each of the summary sentences you wrote for each body paragraph, list the evidence used. Remember that the quotations, paraphrased information, or key details found directly in the text may all be used as evidence to support the claim.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

• Is there evidence from the text used to support the ideas in the paragraph?
• Are there direct quotes or key details from the text?
• Is the evidence relevant?
• Is the reasoning logical?4. You are now ready to review the sentence structure and offer suggestions on how the writer can increase the complexity by adding more phrases and clauses and using parallel structure. Review the following questions and write suggestions directly on the essay you are reviewing.Guiding Questions and Prompts:
  • How can the writer combine sentences or add phrases and clauses to increase the complexity of the writing?
  • Are there sections that would benefit from a parallel structure?

5. After asking yourself the following questions, circle strong vocabulary words in the text and note any unnecessary repetitions.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

• Do any words stand out as particularly powerful?
• Are any words repeated enough times to be monotonous?

6. Finally, you will edit the essay for spelling mistakes and use of proper punctuation. Ask yourself the following questions.

Guiding Questions and Prompts:

• Are there any spelling mistakes?
• Are there any errors in punctuation?

Turn your reviewed essay back into Mrs. Scales so that she can provide your feedback to the student for the revision process we will be doing tomorrow.