ESSAY ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
AUTHOR REVIEW LETTER
After you have proofread your essay, write an informal letter addressed to me with two parts that
review your work as an author: (1) describe the process of researching and writing your essay, and
(2) complete a content analysis of the essay, the product you are turning in for a grade. Your
Author Review Letter— the last thing you write after you complete the major paper and due with
your essay—should be about 2-3 pages typed, formatted like a real letter addressed to me (Dear
Professor Floren). Schedule enough time to complete and type up this author-review letter before
class on the due date for the essay. Give it the standard headings, including word count.
(1) PROCESS: From the time you first read or hear about the essay assignment until the time you
finish the final proofreading, you will have an experience of thinking, discussing, imagining, drafting,
researching, revising, consulting, editing, and proofreading. Tell me about the process of engaging
in and completing the assignment. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers or topics for this process
description. You may cover whatever topic tells about the things you did to create the essay you are
turning in: reading, writing, thinking, imagining, creating, discussing, researching, and various stages
in writing. I am interested in your honest thoughts about the work you just did. Here are some ideas
for things you could tell me:
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How did you get started?
What problems did you run into? How did you solve these problems, if you solved them?
What are you particularly pleased or displeased with?
Did you have to make any tough decisions while you were writing this? What were they?
Did your essay come out the way you envisioned it at first?
What made you decide to take your essay in this particular direction?
(2) PRODUCT (CONTENT ANALYSIS): After you have described your writing process, and still in
the same letter to me, complete a content analysis of your essay that will show you are critically
thinking about, and critically reading, your writing. First number all the paragraphs in your essay (you
can do this by hand). Then type out complete answers to all the following items.
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Identify the title of the paper you are analyzing, and its word count. Then, unless you have
already discussed this, describe your drafts by telling the number of different drafts you wrote,
including this one, and by briefly describing the differences in these drafts.
Describe your audience, including the title of at least one specific periodical that publishes articles
on topics like yours (you can be creative here).
Identify your specific purpose in this essay. In addition to informing and enlightening your readers,
tell what you hope they will do (or not do) as a result of reading your essay and thinking about
what you have written.
What secondary research was most valuable to you as you developed your thoughts for this
paper? What did you learn from the scholarly journal, and from your credentials search? Are you
satisfied with your practice of the APEx formula? Briefly explain.
What risks did you take in planning and developing this essay?
Where in the essay, specifically, do you think you were bold, creative, and/or original? Where do
you show your own personality and style? (Refer me to the specific paragraph numbers and
specific sentences, and then briefly explain.)
Write the thesis statement of your essay (ONE complete sentence that shows your purpose and
encapsulates the significance of all the information in the paper).
Write out the topic sentence of each body paragraph in your paper (i.e., do not include the
introduction or the conclusion).
Conclusion and complimentary close: After your content analysis, end your letter with a brief
conclusion in which you evaluate your essay, name its strengths and weakness, and tell what
you would have done to improve it if you had at least one more day to work on it. Then provide a
complimentary closing (e.g., “Sincerely”), then your signature, then your typed name.
Essay Analysis. Floren English 201. 2/17/2016 Version. Page 1
PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT
On the day the paper is due, you will receive a copy of a classmate’s essay so you can complete
your peer review, due the next class period. To complete your peer review of a classmate’s paper,
imagine you are that writer’s editor and are helping her or him prepare the manuscript for
publication. As editor, you want to provide creative and constructive criticism so “your writer” will be
sure to get her or his essay published. For this assignment, do three things:
(1) Marginal Commentary: Directly on the essay, in the margins, write some comments and
questions that come to you as you are reading and re-reading the paper. Focus on content:
clarity, accuracy, depth, originality. Also note where you think additional copy-editing is
needed (especially note strengths and/or errors in specific language skills we have worked
on in class, such as conciseness/wordiness and parallelism). Check the Works Cited list and
note whether all the items are actually cited in the paper, whether the items are alphabetized,
and whether each item is correctly formatted using MLA documentation style.
(2) Content Analysis: On the back of the last page of the essay, write out in one complete
sentence what you think the main point of the whole paper is, and then write down all the
major supports or sub points in complete sentences. (This is your content analysis of your
classmate’s paper.) Note whether you think any part is plagiarized.
(3) Letter to the Author: Then, type up an informal letter to your writer. There are no “right” or
“wrong” ways of writing this letter; your classmate (and I) will be interested in your honest
thoughts about and your constructive criticism of the paper. Your letter should be 1-2 pages,
formatted like a real letter addressed to your author (Dear Ms. Collins), from you in your role
as editor. Include what you learned from reading this essay, what it was like to read it, and
what needs to be done to make it ready for publication. Name an actual journal, magazine,
or newspaper that publishes topics like the one addressed in the paper (a periodical that
might consider publishing your classmate’s essay). If you can’t come up with a real
publication, invent one; give it a name and describe it. Include your complimentary close
(e.g., Sincerely) then your signature, then your typed name. Use Barnet’s peer review
questions (p. 26) for topics to include in your letter, and here are some other ideas for what
you can note for and explain to your writer:
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What was it like to read this essay? Was it easy or difficult?
How did the essay affect you? Did it arouse any particular feelings? Did the essay make you
think any new thoughts or think about something in a new or different way? Did it make you
want to change anything in the way you act or think?
Do you agree or disagree with any of the points the writer makes?
Is the paper well researched? Are scholarly sources used? Is the APEx formula used well?
What is the strongest point? The weakest point?
What is the clearest point? The least clear?
What is the most interesting, beautiful, powerful, or significant sentence in this essay?
Submission: At the upper left-hand corner of your letter, provide the standard English 201 heading
(sample assignment name: Paper #1 Peer Review for Marion Collins). Attach your classmate’s
essay, on which you have completed the tasks listed in #1 and #2 above, to this letter. Have your
peer review ready to turn in before class begins the day it is due. Evaluation and Value: I will
evaluate your peer review on the basis of clarity, completeness, creativity, accuracy, depth, and
helpfulness and return it to you so you can see my evaluation. Then, you will give the peer review to
your classmate, who will thank you for your service and use your peer review for making
improvements in the revision process. In addition to having helped a classmate to improve, you will
have improved your own critical reading, critical thinking, analysis, and language skills by giving
careful attention to the elements of the peer review.
Essay Analysis. Floren English 201. 2/17/2016 Version. Page 2