Annotate your classmate's paper (writing comments in the margins) as follows:
* Write "thesis" in the margin next to the thesis (main idea of the
paper).
* Put an explanation mark (!) in the margin next to every passage that
is especially effective or interesting.
* Put a wavy line in the margin next to any passages that you find
confusing, that contain something that doesn't seem to fit, or that
otherwise slow down your reading.
1. Restate the thesis (main idea) of the paper here. Does this thesis seem focused--or is it too vague?
2. Does the writer clearly state what the works to be discussed are in the first or second paragraph?
3. Which of the critical approaches to literature does the writer use (refer to our text). What could the writer do to use this approach more effectively?
4. Which idea presented in the paper seems strongest or best?
5. Which idea presented in the paper seems weakest?
6. Do the insights that the writer provides seem fresh and interesting or not? BE HONEST.
7. Does the paper appear to be well-organized? Or should some of the paragraphs be arranged in a different order?
8. Do some of the sentences not support the topic sentences in the paragraphs in which they appear? Should these sentences be put in different paragraphs or eliminated altogether? Do some paragraphs not support the thesis?
9. Are there errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, or typing? Note at least two such errors here.
10. Has the writer used quotations correctly? Example: The narrator claims that "Mrs. Peebles was not very friendly . . . afterward, but she was fair" (Munro 513). Has the writer cited sources accurately? Example: (Munro 513) If the quotation is 3-4 lines or longer, has the writer indented the quotation and not used quotation marks? Note: No more than ten to fifteen percent of the paper should be quotations.
11. Is the paper the correct length? (750-1000 words)