Peer Editing Checklist: Personal Essay

Any edits that you make need to be neat and purposeful.

After EACH PARTNER, go to the bottom of the page and write a positive comment, and the main area that you think needs improvement.

Include your name after your comment.

Partner One: Opening – Is it interesting? Does it hook your attention?

  1. Hook-Write hook out beside the intro. If it hooks your attention put a check, if it doesn’t put a question mark.
  2. Topic Sentence- Highlight in yellow the topic sentence. If you can’t find the topic sentence, write “TS?” beside the introduction. If you can’t tell what the prompt is from the TS, right “improve TS”.Bold the keyword that should be in the TS.

(Mac shortcut for bold- Command + B)

  1. Summarizing- Does is summarize the whole story? We do not want this! Put “Summary” at the end of the intro if this is the case.

Partner Two: Body Paragraphs- Do the events move smoothly and stay in order? Does their telescope move, or does it stay focused?

  1. Focus-If their paper needs to be more focused, mark where their telescope moves.
  2. DMS-If any ideas are unclear, highlight them in blue and label it DMS (doesn’t make sense)
  3. Development- Is enough information included? If there is an idea that needs to be developed, underline the section and write, “develop more” beside the thought.

(Mac shortcut for underline- Command +U)

  1. Paragraphs- Can you see clear paragraphs? Label each paragraph where you see an indent. If they do not have clear paragraphs label where they should go in parenthesis.

P1, P2, P3

Partner Three: Conclusion-Is it effective? Does it give the paper a “finished” feel?

  1. No New thoughts- If they introduce something new, strikethrough it and say in parentheses “new thought”

(Docs shortcut for strikethrough- Command + Shift +5)

  1. Catchy- If it is memorable, write catchy below it and put good, if it is not put a question mark beside catchy. CATCHY- GOOD! OR CATCHY-?

Partner Four: Wording

  1. Vivid Words- Are their any boring words in the paper that could be improved? Highlight in pink any boring words. (fun, happy, sad, etc.)
  2. Repeating Words- Highlight throughout the paper if any words seem to repeat. Use a green highlighter for this. Code at the bottom which word repeats.

Words that tend to repeat: then, next, I, said, also- This could be any other word that you see used a lot.

Partner Five: Wording Continued

  1. Unnecessary words- Strikethrough them using one line. (This can be used when you are combining sentences)
  2. (Docs shortcut for strikethrough- Command (alt for chromebook) + Shift +5)
  3. Sentences- Are they too choppy? If they need to be combined, highlight the two sentences in blue and label “combine” after the second sentence.
  4. I went to the store. I saw my teacher there. (Combine) To my surprise, she said hello to me.
  5. Transition Words- Are there words to help the flow of the paper? Bold all transition words that are used.

First, next, then, after that, soon after, etc.

Partner Six: Capitalization/Punctuation/ Spelling

  1. Punctuation- Highlight in yellow every period. If you only see a couple of periods, there are run-on sentences. Add in where you think a period, or comma should go in parentheses.

I wish that I could stay home today (,) because I do not feel good(.) and I want to rest(,) then I can go back to school tomorrow and feel better.

  1. Capitalization- Underline the letter that needs to be capitalized. Strike through a letter that needs to be lowercase.
  2. Spelling- If you think a word is misspelled, put sp in bold beside the word using parentheses.

Seventh grade has proven to be exhasting(sp) so far.

Partner 7: Emotion & Finalizing Edits

  1. Emotion-Italicize the sentences and place a boldE after every section that includes emotion.

(Mac shortcut for italics- Command +I) (Mac shortcut for bold- Command + B)

  1. Missed Edits- After looking back on the paper, has anyone before you missed something? If so, mark it accordingly.
  2. Overall Thoughts- Is there a section that you would change in some way? Mark it. Would you rephrase a sentence? Try rephrasing it for them in parenthesis.