Peer Reviewing has two major benefits: One to the writer and another to the person who reviews.

The writer, if given proper guidance through feedback, can become a better writer if the reviewer takes
an interest in the work. By taking an interest in another student, you are showing your support to
education, knowledge, and helping others grow. These are all positive values and please keep the
positive aspect in mind when you review. However, do not give a high grade just because you want to
be positive.

Taking constructive criticism is a way of growth. For example, did you know that many famous
writers failed a lot before finally getting published? They got better through criticism. The same can
be said for a lot of people held in high esteem. We learn from our mistakes--IF the mistakes are
pointed out to us! Also we learn when the person pointing them out takes the time to explain how
something can be done better.

The person reviewing also benefits because it might allow that person to see something in his or her
own work reflected in what is being reviewed. A lot of times we tend to see something we have done
and not see "this or that" in it until we see that in another person's work.

IF we take the time to truly review someone, then we will be working to make ourselves better
too. How many times did you see someone do something at work that you could do better? Do you
just do the work for that person or would you teach them? How can you teach them if you do not ask
yourself, "What is it that I do that is so different?".

Growing is two ways--please be part of both directions.

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Write 600-700 words summarizing the story. In your essay, discuss the theme, setting, plot, and
characters.

Essay (Pretend this is a random student essay):

The theme of James Joyce’s The Dead is that of lost love. It is of lost love because the person loses a
lot of love iin it. The characters are the main person, which is a guy, and his wife. It also has his aunts
in it and a drunk guy at the piano. The setting is a party for two old women.

The setting is at a house of the guy’s aunt and the winter snow of Dublin outside. Also there is a hotel
room where the guy and his wife stay at. The house is big with a lot of rooms and servants. There is an
upstairs and a downstairs. The upstairs is where most of the guests are and the downstairs are where
the servants greet people. The party is full of boring old people who are close to dying and just like to
drink and spend money they don’t have.

The plot comes about when the guy is asked to speak at his aunt’s party. He focuses a lot of it and it
comes out like a eulogy instead of a party toast. He basically calls everyone at the party the walking
dead but he doesn’t realize it. The other major part of the plot is when his wife is at the hotel room
with him and she starts to cry because a song reminded her of her first love who died really
young. The husband doesn’t care that his wife is crying, but is upset that she loved someone else
before meeting him. He is a bit of a selfish person that way.

Over all, The Dead was enjoyable, but it was hard to read because of the way Joyce uses some older
words. I think the guy was bad because he didn’t care about anyone but himself and his wife should
leave him.

309 Words

How would YOU Review this? Here is the rubric to use. You can rate each category between 1 (poor)
and 4 (great) for the essay:

1. Is the theme sentence clear? If you think the theme sentence is clearly stated, assess it
accordingly. If the theme is well stated and clear give it a good grade. If it is unclear or does
not exist, give it a poor grade.

1. According to the student, what is the setting of the essay? In your opinion, is the description
of the setting complete? If your answer to this question is “yes,” give the writer a good grade.
If you answer to this question is “no,” give the writer a poor grade. In the Feedback box below,
indicate which paragraph describes the setting of the story. State clearly which facts about the
setting the writer of the essay mentions.

1. Does the writer mention only the major characters? Does the writer distinguish between
major characters and minor characters? Does the writer describe the characteristics or just list
them? If the student has analyzed the characters in depth, give an excellent grade. If you think
the student has described the main characters and mentioned some of the minor characters,
give a good grade. If the student has not mentioned any of the main characters give a poor
grade.

1. Has the student provided a description of the plot? Make a list of the facts that the student has
mentioned describing the plot. If the list is inclusive, give the student a good grade. If the
student has not done these things give him/her a poorer grade. In the Feedback box below,
describe how you could improve on the student’s description of the plot of the story. Copy out
the sentences in the student’s essay that refer to the plot. Do you think they are faithful to the
James Joyce’s intention?
 1. Is the essay the proper length (600-700 words)? If your answer is “yes,” give a good grade. If
the answer is “no,” give a poor grade.

1. Mechanics

Exceptional– 3: An essay in this category is well organized and coherently developed; clearly explains
or illustrates key ideas in detail; demonstrates syntactic variety; clearly displays facility in the use of
language; and is error free in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure.

Satisfactory– Proficient– 2: An essay in this category is well organized and coherently developed;
clearly explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates syntactic variety; clearly displays facility in the
use of language, but it has minor errors in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure.

Satisfactory– Basic– 1: An essay in this category is adequately organized and developed, explains or
illustrates some key ideas, and demonstrates adequate facility in the use of language. It may display
some errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure, but there is no consistent pattern of such
errors.

Unsatisfactory – 0: An essay in this category reveals one or more of the following weaknesses:
inadequate organization or development; inadequate explanation or illustration of key ideas; a pattern
of accumulation of errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure; and limited or inappropriate
word choice.

7. Overall assessment of the essay In giving an overall assessment consider the following
questions: Does the student state the theme of the essay? Has the student written a conclusion? Is the
language clear and easily understandable? Is the length of the essay as requested in the assignment? If
the answer to all of these questions is positive, give a good grade. If some of answers are negative, give
a poorer grade. In the Comments box below, explain in two to four sentences your opinion of the essay
as a whole.

Excellent: The essay demonstrates a high degree of competence in response to the assignment and is
error free.

Very good: The essay demonstrates competence in response to the assignment but has some minor
errors, 1-3.

Average: The essay demonstrates competence, but makes more than a few errors, 4-6.

Poor: The essay demonstrates some degree of competence in response to the assignment but is
obviously flawed.

Very Poor: The essay demonstrates fundamental deficiencies in writing skills. Weight: 1.00
 8. Over-all Feedback:

This is how I would review the story: Here is the rubric to use. You can rate each category between 1
(poor) and 4 (great) for the essay:

1. Is the theme sentence clear? If you think the theme sentence is clearly stated, assess it
accordingly. If the theme is well stated and clear give it a good grade. If it is unclear or does
not exist, give it a poor grade.

4—The theme is clearly stated as Lost Love.

1. According to the student, what is the setting of the essay? In your opinion, is the description
of the setting complete? If your answer to this question is “yes,” give the writer a good grade.
If you answer to this question is “no,” give the writer a poor grade. In the Feedback box below,
indicate which paragraph describes the setting of the story. State clearly which facts about the
setting the writer of the essay mentions.

2—According to the student, the setting of the essay is a big house, Dublin in the winter,
and a hotel room. In my opinion, the description is not complete. The 2 nd paragraph
has the setting. The writer mentions the house, the winter, and the hotel room, but the
writer does not go into much detail about the house beyond it being “big” and the
winter is almost not described at all, neither is the hotel room. If the writer would give
a more detailed description like maybe describing how the snow was falling outside, or
the horse carriage ride, or even the rooms of the house, it would be a stronger essay.

1. Does the writer mention only the major characters? Does the writer distinguish between
major characters and minor characters? Does the writer describe the characteristics or just list
them? If the student has analyzed the characters in depth, give an excellent grade. If you think
the student has described the main characters and mentioned some of the minor characters,
give a good grade. If the student has not mentioned any of the main characters give a poor
grade.

2—The writer only mentions the major characters and there really aren’t a lot of minor
characters listed at all. There is nothing that describes the characters. I think this
writer needs to go more into detail about the characters and what they look like a lot
more.

1. Has the student provided a description of the plot? Make a list of the facts that the student has
mentioned describing the plot. If the list is inclusive, give the student a good grade. If the
 student has not done these things give him/her a poorer grade. In the Feedback box below,
describe how you could improve on the student’s description of the plot of the story. Copy out
the sentences in the student’s essay that refer to the plot. Do you think they are faithful to the
James Joyce’s intention?

3—The writer does describe the plot a bit. The writer goes over the party, the loss of
love, the wife, the aunts, and the husband all tying into the main plot of the party and
loss. An example of this is, “The plot comes about when the guy is asked to speak at his aunt’s
party.” I do think it was mostly faithful to Joyce’s intentions as I think this could be a story about
loss of love too.

1. Is the essay the proper length (600-700 words)? If your answer is “yes,” give a good grade. If
the answer is “no,” give a poor grade.

No, it is under 600 words.

1. Mechanics

Exceptional– 3: An essay in this category is well organized and coherently developed; clearly explains
or illustrates key ideas in detail; demonstrates syntactic variety; clearly displays facility in the use of
language; and is error free in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure.

Satisfactory– Proficient– 2: An essay in this category is well organized and coherently developed;
clearly explains or illustrates key ideas; demonstrates syntactic variety; clearly displays facility in the
use of language, but it has minor errors in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure.

Satisfactory– Basic– 1: An essay in this category is adequately organized and developed, explains or
illustrates some key ideas, and demonstrates adequate facility in the use of language. It may display
some errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure, but there is no consistent pattern of such
errors.

1—I think this is Basic because there are few errors and some sort of structure, but
mostly the essay does not flow enough or explain enough to warrant a higher grade.

Unsatisfactory – 0: An essay in this category reveals one or more of the following weaknesses:
inadequate organization or development; inadequate explanation or illustration of key ideas; a pattern
of accumulation of errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence structure; and limited or inappropriate
word choice.

7. Overall assessment of the essay In giving an overall assessment consider the following
questions: Does the student state the theme of the essay? Has the student written a conclusion? Is the
language clear and easily understandable? Is the length of the essay as requested in the assignment? If
the answer to all of these questions is positive, give a good grade. If some of answers are negative, give
a poorer grade. In the Comments box below, explain in two to four sentences your opinion of the essay
as a whole.

Excellent: The essay demonstrates a high degree of competence in response to the assignment and is
error free.

Very good: The essay demonstrates competence in response to the assignment but has some minor
errors, 1-3.

Average: The essay demonstrates competence, but makes more than a few errors, 4-6.

Poor: The essay demonstrates some degree of competence in response to the assignment but is
obviously flawed.

This is a Poor grade because, although the writing is understandable, it is not a long
enough essay nor does it go into detail to answer the question asked. You do have a
theme and conclusion, but there are gaps in your essay that do not answer the question,
so I cannot give you a higher grade. Your writing style is fine, it just seems you were a
bit rushed to get this in and did not take your time to fully complete the assignment.

Very Poor: The essay demonstrates fundamental deficiencies in writing skills. Weight: 1.00

8. Over-all Feedback:

Over-all, I liked what you had for the most part. I really wish you would go into more
detail because you seem to be able to do more with this essay. Maybe you can write a
draft next time and make sure all of the assignment is covered. Also, your word count
was nearly half of what it should have been. I think if you took more time, you could do
well.