Baltimore County Public Schools
Office of Secondary English Language Arts
Unit 3: Three Phase Composition
Research: Overcoming Oppression
Peer-Editing
First read: On your first read through the draft, scrutinize the document looking at the following
factors. Mark the document with the appropriate annotation:
Mark
Area
Sp
Unsure of spelling
Frag
Incomplete sentence
Mark
Area
?
Confusing writing
=
Place under letters for capitalization issues
Second read:
Semicolon use: Review the use of semi-colons below, and then analyze your peer’s essay to
identify where a semicolon is used or could be used.
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Used most commonly to connect two independent clauses without using a conjunction:
o My uncle has sweaty armpits; he uses baby powder and deodorant to stay dry
Used also to combine sentences with internal punctuation:
o When Mr. Smith’s students agree on something, they’ll often high-five one
another; students are all about the high-five.
Not used when the two independent clauses are not related:
o I beat my brother in our new video game. Also, I never eat mayonnaise straight
from the jar.
 Because these video game victory is unrelated to your mayonnaise
choices, the two should not be combined with a semi-colon.
Used with a list in which items contain a comma:
o My favorite BCPS alumni include Michael Phelps, Olympic champion; Maysa
Leak, world-renowned jazz singer; and Mike Rowe, the awesome host of the
show Dirty Jobs.
In the space below either copy a sentence from your peer’s essay that correctly uses a semicolon
or use a semicolon to combine two sentences from the draft:
Baltimore County Public Schools
Office of Secondary English Language Arts
Unit 3: Three Phase Composition
Research: Overcoming Oppression
Peer-Editing
Colon use: Review the use of a colon below, then analyze your peer’s essay to identify a place
where a colon is used correctly or could be utilized.
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Think of the colon as a gate inviting the reader to continue on from one place to another
Preceding the colon is an independent clause
Following the colon is an explanation or list related to the preceding clause
Remember that the preceding clause must be independent. See the following examples
for clarification:
o Her recipe for pie filling included six ingredients: apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon,
salt, nutmeg and lemon juice.
o Her recipe for pie filling included apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and
lemon juice. (No colon here because “Her recipe for pie filling included” is not
an independent clause)
Use a colon to introduce a quote following an independent clause:
o My teacher left me the following comment, “This is your best work by far!”
o The teacher’s comment on my essay was very complimentary: “This is your best
work by far!”
In the space below either copy a sentence from your peer’s essay that correctly uses a colon or
use a colon to combine two sentences from the draft:
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Works Cited:
Access the following resource on Works Cited pages to carefully edit your peer’s Works Cited
page.
From Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/
From University of Minnesota:
http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/mla_workscited.pdf