Peer Comments

Due Date: For each of the four main papers in class, you will write peer comments for two of your fellow students (the other members of your small group). These comments will be due in the OAKS Group lockers (under “Groups,” which is under the “Management” option in OAKS) before your small-group draft conference.  Title your peer comments like this:  “Smith Comments for Jones” and “Smith Comments for Brown.”

Background:  Consider yourself a friendly reader. Your job is to help your fellow student write a better paper. But you don’t want to be the kind of reader who doesn’t offer much help—for instance, writing, “everything sounds great” or “just fix a few grammatical problems and you’re good to go.”  Remember that revision = re-vision.  You should help the student re-see their paper, rethink what works and what doesn’t.  You should provide detailed and constructive comments.

Description:  Read each student paper through once, very carefully. Then read again, marking the paper up, paying special attention to places where you get confused or would like more information, and also to places where you like what the student did—good language use, a convincing example, a vivid description, etc.  Then write the student a letter explaining what you think works well in the paper and what you think needs more work.  Be specific!  Point to particular passages, paragraphs, sentences, words etc.  Don’t be afraid to make specific suggestions. It will be much more helpful if you tell the student that you could think they could strengthen their thesis by adding X and deleting Y than if you simply say: “You need a stronger thesis.”

Format:  Begin the letter as you would begin a letter written to a friend: “Dear Susan.” Then begin writing your response.  To receive full credit, your peer letter should be thoughtful, relevant, double-spaced, and at least 300 words long.  While you’re more than welcome to send the marked-up draft to the student, the only thing you will actually turn in to the OAKS group folder will be the letter itself.

Group Assignments and Conference Meeting Times

Paper 1

  • Group 1: Abby Flynn, Madeline Hurst, Komail Rezaee (Tu Jan 30, 12:15)
  • Group 2: James Elliott, Haley Johnson, Ella Maleski (Tu Jan 30, 12:40)
  • Group 3: Hailey Carnagey, Mark Harde, Hannah Kelley (Tu, Jan 30, 1:05)
  • Group 4: Will Donald, Dominic Voci, Abigail Williams (Th, Feb 1, 12:15)
  • Group 5: Makenzie Abel, Alex De Oliveira, Kirti Reddy (Th, Feb 1, 12:40)

Paper 2

  • Group 1: Will Donald, Abby Flynn, Mark Harde (Tu, Feb. 27, 12:15)
  • Group 2: Hannah Kelley, Kirti Reddy, Dominic Voci (Tu, Feb. 27, 12:40)
  • Group 3: Hailey Carnagey, Alex De Oliveira, James Elliott (Tu, Feb. 27, 1:05)
  • Group 4: Makenzie Abel, Haley Johnson, Komail Rezaee (Th, Feb. 29, 12:15)
  • Group 5: Madeline Hurst, Ella Maleski, Abby Williams (Th, Feb. 29, 12:40)

Paper 3

  • Group 1: Haley Johnson, Ella Maleski, Abby Williams (Tu, Mar 26, 12:15)
  • Group 2: Hannah Kelley, Kirti Reddy, Komail Rezaee (Tu, Mar 26, 12:40)
  • Group 3: Makenzie Abel, Abby Flynn, Mark Harde (Tu, Mar 26, 1:05)
  • Group 4: Alex De Oliviera, James Elliott, Dominic Voci (Th, Mar 28, 12:15)
  • Group 5: Hailey Carnagey, Will Donald, Madeline Hurst (Th, Mar 28, 12:40)

Paper 4

  • Group 1: Will Donald, Madeline Hurst, Dominic Voci (Tu, Mar 26, 12:15)
  • Group 2: Mark Harde, Haley Johnson, Kirti Reddy (Tu, Mar 26, 12:40)
  • Group 3: Makenzie Abel, Komail Rezaee, Abby Williams (Tu, Mar 26, 1:05)
  • Group 4: Alex De Oliviera, Hailey Carnagey, Abby Flynn (Th, Mar 28, 12:15)
  • Group 5: James Elliott, Hannah Kelley, Ella Maleski (Th, Mar 28, 12:40)