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Summary Peer Review
English 102
The goal of this exercise is to ensure that your classmate’s summary and yours are
 complete
 accurate
 objective
 fluent
You will be performing two interrelated tasks simultaneously: critiquing your classmate’s paper, and critiquing your
own paper. You’ll do this by comparing your paper to theirs.
Please read your classmate’s paper and answer the following questions in order. Please take notes on separate
sheets—one for your paper and one for your partner’s paper. Put your name and your partner’s name on both papers,
labeled “author” and “reviewer.” E.g. on the sheet with my notes on my own paper I would write “Davis Oldham,
comments on my paper.” On my notes on Jane Smith’s paper I would write “Davis Oldham, reviewer; Jane Smith,
author.”
1.
Completeness:
a. What information did you include in your summary that your classmate did not? Give at least one example.
Is this information essential to an understanding of the article? In other words, do you feel your classmate’s
paper is incomplete? If so, say so. If not, consider whether you need to include the information in your own
summary.
b. What information did your classmate include that you did not? Give at least one example. Is this
information essential? In other words, is your paper incomplete?
2.
Accuracy: What information did you describe differently from your classmate? Give at least one example. Is
your description or paraphrase more or less accurate than your classmate’s? Why? Where does your paper differ
from your classmate’s in following the structure of the original? Where is the relation between main points and
supporting points described or portrayed differently? Where do the two papers locate key points differently in
relation to the essay as a whole? Where does one paper give a point more space than the other paper? What do these
differences suggest for possible changes in your paper, your classmate’s, or both? Rewrite the less accurate one to
make it more accurate.
3.
Evidence: Where does your paper differ from your classmate’s in its choice of evidence to identify? Which
seem more important to the argument? If both sets of evidence are equally important to the author’s point,
which paper better explains how the evidence supports the main points? In other words, which does a better job
of showing the reader why these examples (this evidence) is important to the overall argument? How would you
revise the paper with less important evidence, or the one that is less effective in showing how the evidence is
important?
4.
Language (Please focus on the following three areas):
a) Objectivity: Which paper is more objective, yours or your classmate’s? In other words, which paper has
less commentary, opinion, subjective analysis, biased language and so on? Find at least one example in the
less objective paper that can be made more objective and rewrite it—remove unnecessary comments, reword sentences to be more neutral, add more information from the article for balance, or…?
b) Quotations: Which paper uses quotations more effectively? This means that the quotations are relevant,
accurate (exactly the same as in the original), and smoothly integrated into the sentence.
c) Paraphrases: Which paper paraphrases more effectively? This means that ideas are expressed in entirely
new language, not partially borrowed from the original, accurately represent the idea being expressed, and
are integrated smoothly into the appropriate paragraph and section of the summary.
After you have compared the two papers using the points above, please score both papers using the grading criteria
given in the assignment instructions. Assign a score of 4 (outstanding), 3 (above average), 2 (acceptable), 1
(unsatisfactory) or 0 (unacceptable) to each category and then average the scores. Write the scores and the average
on the page you give your partner, using the letters C, A, E and L to label the categories.
PLEASE RETURN THESE INSTRUCTIONS