Guidelines for Peer Review
Comparison and Contrast, Essay #3 or 4

Essay written by:

Peer review completed by:

and:

Attach this sheet with your peer reviewer's comments to your rough draft when you hand in your essay.

For the Peer Reviewer: Following the questions on this sheet (use the back, if needed), write your advice for revisions of your classmate's paper. These questions are guidelines only--you need not be limited to them. Respond also to what works well in the essay (Question #10, below)!

1. Does the essay have an engaging title, one that makes the reader want to continue?

2. Does the beginning of the essay grab the reader's attention?

3. Are the two things being compared (novel/movie or novel/novel) introduced by title and author, and is some background about the works given early in the essay (usually the first paragraph, certainly no later than the second)?

4. Is the writer's main idea clear? Can you identify and restate the author's thesis? What is the main point the writer will make by comparing/contrasting this particular element?

5. What evidence from the novel and the movie (or from the two novels) does the author offer to support the thesis? Is that evidence adequate? What similarities and differences are discussed?

6. Is the essay organized effectively? Could the organization be improved?

7. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence you can identify? Does every other sentence in the paragraph develop, expand on, explain, enhance, or relate to the topic sentence?

8. Does every paragraph in the essay develop and/or relate to the thesis? Has extraneous material that does not speak to the issue been omitted?

9. Is the end/conclusion of the essay effective? Does the writer make clear in the conclusion why/how the element being compared/contrasted is important in enhancing the reader’s understanding of the work(s)?

10. List the strengths of the essay.