Peer Review Procedure

x x x x Choose a partner. Exchange essays with your partner. Do not share your outlines. Take turns reading your essays aloud, as the other partner listens in silence Write a detailed rhetorical outline of your partners essay, following the same format you used in outlining your own draft. Review the Guide to Writing Rhetorical Outlines for more information. Proposition: (paraphrase your partners proposition) Plan: Identify, from the exercise, what your partner intended to do in this exercise (explain, argue, describe, evaluate, etc) Goal: What was your partners goal (what did she want her reader (you) to think or do after reading the piece) Audience: identify the audience for this exercise. Be as specific as possible. You are now thinking about why and how your audience would not agree with your proposition. Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 Says: (paraphrase) Sentence 1 Does: (describe the action/strategy/purpose of this sentence: is it providing a reason? Offering an example? Defining a term? Introducing an anecdote?) If you find that a sentence is not doing much of anything, say so: This sentence is redundant. Or, this sentence is a tangent. Continue this for every sentence in your exercise. If two or three sentences are saying and doing the same thing (a meaning cluster) feel free to group them. For example: Paragraph 1 Says: Sentences 4 through 6 say that scholars imagine a rational audience. Does: Sentence 4 provides the reason, Sentence 5 provides a quotation that exemplifies this reason, and Sentence 6 provides a second, paraphrased example to support the reason. Remember, the point of these outline is to highlight and analyze the steps in your partners reasoning. Identifying what make the exercise goes well demonstrates your ability to critically read just as well as identifying what goes awry. When both finish outlining, take turns comparing your own outline with that written by your partner. Underline points where the two outlines differ. Did you think you were saying one thing, and your partner thought you were saying something other? Did your partner think you were introducing a counterargument, when what you were trying to do was explain a term? Explore with your partner these areas of dissonance. They will teach you much about your reader and what you need to do to reach him or her. Repeat this process for the other partner. Note that if your partner understands exactly what you are saying and doing, there may be a significant problem with invention. You may be saying such predictable, banal things that your reader can immediately grasp the material. Good ideas are rarely expressed with such clarity of meaning and purpose in a first or second draft. Each reader can identify up to 2 grammar or usage issues that they notice in their partners essay. Concentrate on any patterns, not isolated typos or mistakes. The writer should look up the rules

for these two grammar/mechanics problems, correct them, and add the material to his or her Custom Proofreading Sheet. Directions for Submitting Peer Reviews Submit a single-spaced copy of your peer review to the Blackboard link under Assignments Please use the following heading on your peer review: Your Name Peer Review of [your partners name] Date Submitted