Peer Review for Student Example Essay
Be sure to offer more than just a yes or no answer to the questions below. Please be sure to
1. Who is the audience for the personal narrative? Write down a few examples from the story that show the writer’s intended audience.
2. Does the writer offer a strong hook or lead that keeps grabs your attention and refuses to let go?
3. Does the author show rather than tell? Go through the entire paper and find the places where they use effective showing language that vividly describes using sensory language (e.g., seeing, touch, hearing, tasting, smelling). Showing language brings the subject to life with lots of details.
4. Now, go through the paper and note the places where they use telling language. Telling language is vague, obscure, and abstract. Point out where they show and where they tell – so that they can try and rework the telling areas.
5. Does the story offer dialogue that helps demonstrate character development? Does the dialogue help to progress the plot?
6. After reading through the essay, what do you perceive to be the writer’s purpose or thesis? Why are they telling this story? What theme, issue, or idea do they want you to come away understanding?
7. Do you think that the writer offers a strong sense of closure?