Peer Review for Essay 1 and
Responding to Sources
They Say, I Say Chapters 4 and 5
Getting Ready for Peer Review
• What you get out of peer review depends on
what you put into it.
• Your job as a writer is to listen and ask
questions.
• Your job as a peer reviewer is to give good
feedback and give each essay your full
attention.
• You are job as a reviewer is NOT to fix
grammar and spelling only.
Tips for Giving Criticism
• 1.Make it constructive.
– “Construct” means “to build.” Even when you are pointing
out an area for improvement, your criticism should help
to build the writer’s ability to write a successful essay.
– Positive comments are also appropriate. Tell a writer what
he or she did well and encourage him or her to do more of
that.
• 2. Be kind, yet honest. Never tear down another
writer, but don’t hesitate to point out passages that
don’t make sense and other mistakes. Telling an
author “It’s fine” when it is not fine does not help
him or her.
Tips for Giving Criticism
• 3. Give every essay in your peer group your
focus and attention. Come to class prepared to
read and think analytically about your group
mates’ essays. Remember, your classmates are
going to give their attention to your essay, so it’s
only fair that you return the favor.
• 4. Everyone has something to offer. Don’t be
intimidated if you feel that you’re being asked to
comment on a ‘better’ writer. We comment on
professional writers all the time!
Tips for Taking Criticism
1. Remember that your group is offering you
criticism in order to help you. Try not
to
be defensive, and be open to suggestions.
2. Ask questions about your group members’
comments. If you don’t understand why a
group member is saying something, ask him or
her to explain.
3. If a group member is being too vague, ask him
or her to point to specific places in your essay
where they see problems.
4. Try to propose solutions to the problems your
group members see in your essay. Ask if these
solutions would solve the problems.
Using Turnitin to Check on Balance of
Sources and Original Material
• View your own submission on turnitin and view the
originality report. If you did not upload, spend this time
drafting.
• What did turnitin mark as “unoriginal” (these are the
highlighted portions)? Do these unoriginal passages have
quote marks around them and give credit using in-text
citations?
• Is your similarity score more than 30%? This will need to be
fixed before you turn in a final draft, and all direct quotes
and paraphrases will need to be properly cited with both
in-text citations and works cited entries. Any essay that has
more than a 30% similarity score will not be graded. A
new version that scores less than 30% must be uploaded
to the late folder and will lose 10% of points possible.
They Say / I Say: Responding to
Sources
• As you write essay #1, you should ask yourself if
you are agreeing, disagreeing, or doing a little of
both as you read what you have found. As you
interact with the ideas of others in your texts,
there are two things you need to remember:
– Place yourself clearly in respect to other arguments
by either agreeing, disagreeing, or doing a mixture of
both.
– It is not enough just to say that you agree/disagree.
What else do you need to do? The answer is to explain
why and make your agreement or disagreement
unique to you.
Distinguishing What You Say from
What They Say
• The authors of They Say, I Say call the phrases
that help distinguish the ideas of your sources
from your own ideas “voice markers.” Using
these markers will help your reader to know
when you are referring to ideas that you do
not necessarily agree with.
Example Disagreement
• In the article “Why the Odds are Still Stacked against
women in Hollywood,” the author interviews several
women who believe that women are partially to
blame for the gender imbalance in Hollywood, citing
women’s tendency not to self-promote and to seek
approval in a way that hurts their careers (Masters).
However, by focusing on what women are doing
wrong, the article overlooks the deeper problem of
a business that seems to deny equal opportunity to
Template from page
women no matter what they do. If a woman acts
60 of TSIS.
boldly, “like a man,” in order to be successful, she
risks getting a reputation as bossy and hard to work
Voice marker,
with, thereby missing out on opportunities. But to
hear the women Masters interviews tell it, if a
identifying that
woman acts feminine and accommodating, she
these aren’t my
loses big opportunities to those who are willing to
ideas.
be more pushy. No woman should be forced to
make this choice with no right answer, especially in
Further explanation
an industry that profits so much from female
of why I disagree.
consumers.
Introduces article,
summarizes point
to be discussed,
gives credit to
author using in-text
citation.
Practice With Disagreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you disagree with, and you
have that source available to you tonight, use one of the
templates from p. 60 of They Say, I Say to make a quote
sandwich and explain your disagreement. (A bit of advice:
start your quote sandwich with a bit of lead-up/context for
the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay
with you, find a quote or an idea that you disagree with
from any of the essays we have read so far in the class and
make your quote sandwich about the idea you choose. You
should still use a template from They Say, I Say p. 60
Example Agreement
•
Introduces article,
quotes point to be
discussed, gives credit to
author using in-text
citation.
Template from page 64
of TSIS.
Further explanation of
why I agree, adding
something to the
conversation.
Deryl Hannah argues that representations of
gay and lesbian people of color are important
because to portray the LBGT community and
its allies as entirely white would “inaccurately
promote a world in which it would appear
that LGBT people of color do not exist, or that
acceptance of LGBT people is exclusive to
white populations” (Hannah). I agree with
Hannah that inaccurate portrayals of the
diversity within the gay and lesbian
community are troubling, a point that needs
emphasizing because many people still
believe that minority communities are
backward and intolerant when it comes to
their own LBGT members. To portray white
communities as “enlightened” and accepting
and minority communities as oblivious at
best and bigoted at worst perpetuates old,
ugly racial stereotypes.
Practice With Agreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you agree with, and you have that
source available to you tonight, use one of the templates from
p. 62 or 64 of They Say, I Say to make a quote sandwich and
explain your disagreement. (A bit of advice: start your quote
sandwich with a bit of lead-up/context for the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay with you
tonight, find a quote or an idea that you agree with from any of
the essays we have read so far in the class and make your quote
sandwich about the idea you choose. You should still use a
template from They Say, I Say p. 62 or 64.
Example Agree and Disagree at Once
• In the article “Pop Culture: An Overview,” the
author explains the difference between “high
culture” and pop culture, saying, “Items of high
culture often require extensive experience,
training, or reflection to be appreciated”
(Delaney). Delaney is right that high culture is
often associated with the elite, but he seems
on much more dubious ground when he claims
Template from page
that it is lack of “extensive” experience and
65 of TSIS.
training that keep the lower classes from
appreciating high culture. I have seen many
students encounter poems that would be
Further explanation
considered “high culture” for the first time, and
of point on which I
their appreciation of those works is often as
disagree.
deep and keenly felt as students who have the
benefit of more extensive training and prior
knowledge. So, it would seem that it is a lack
of access and exposure that is the problem.
Introduces article,
quotes point to be
discussed, gives
credit to author
using in-text
citation.
Practice Agreeing and Disagreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you agree with parts of, but
disagree with other parts, and you have that source available to
you tonight, use one of the templates from p. 65-66 of They Say,
I Say to make a quote sandwich and explain your disagreement.
(A bit of advice: start your quote sandwich with a bit of leadup/context for the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay with you
tonight, find a quote or an idea that you are of two minds about
from any of the essays we have read so far in the class and make
your quote sandwich about the idea you choose. You should still
use a template from They Say, I Say p. 65-66.