RESEARCH DRAFT REVIEW FORM
This form was originally designed to have two students review each other’s drafts, but you can use it for your own draft to make sure you have arranged all the information well and strengthened your use of language, at the sentence and section levels. The evaluation form on the last page is similar to what I have already sent you, but it is a quick way to double check that you have gone through your work carefully. I will not be collecting this, but if you have any questions about any of the parts, email me.
Your paper’s title:
What is interesting or not about the title? What clues does it give you about the point of view in the paper?
Thesis: Paraphrase the thesis of the paper; state it in different words. Is it a good thesis, why or why not? How could it be improved in terms of argument or clarity?
Introduction—strategies: What is it about the introduction that makes you want to keep reading?
Introduction—Follow-through: Come back to this question after you have read through your whole paper. Did you find that the introduction gives a good idea of what you actually did address in the rest of the paper? If not, what is the main point that your paper really makes? Based on that, you may need to revise your intro.
Introduction & Conclusion: Read your conclusion next to your introduction and think about the relationship between the two parts. Does the conclusion simply summarize or repeat the introduction? Does the conclusion reflect clearly on the thesis or stress the importance of the ideas in the paper? How could it be better?
Development of ideas: List the main points in each of the sections.
Development of Ideas: Are the main points of the paper sufficiently developed and clearly organized? Does the paper bring up any interesting points that you think should be developed further? Where? Do you find any spots where the paper goes off on a tangent; this means, does any paragraph not relate back to the thesis? Where?
Organization of Argument: Is your argument organized effectively? How does it convince the reader? Do the ideas follow each other in a logical, understandable way? If not, what places need to be made more clear?
Transitions: How are the transitions between paragraphs? Mark with * on the paper one transition that worked really well and write out below why you thought it was successful. Mark with an x on the paper one transition that is less polished and write out below why it doesn’t work as well. Add or change the transitions so that your paper reads smoothly.
*
X
Paragraphing: Think about the paragraphs themselves for a moment. Does each paragraph have a strong topic sentence? Does each paragraph focus on/develop one idea? Are any paragraphs too long or too short for easy reading? You may have to break some into two separate paragraphs.
Style: Are there too many short, choppy sentences, or ones that are overly complex and need to be broken up? List one example of each.
Write out below one sentence that you really liked and why you liked it.
Write out below one sentence that you thought could have used improvement and why.
Grammar & Punctuation: Check carefully for any grammatical/mechanical errors (including problems with punctuation). If you have time, you can submit your paper to a tutor to help you make sure there are no problems with diction, usage, or words misused.
Integrating quotes: Are all the quotations used relevant to the argument? Do you use signal phrases to introduce the quotes? Do you use the quote sandwich technique to explain the reason you have quoted or paraphrased your source. Check your in-text citations for format and to make sure they refer clearly to your Works Cited page. Check the formatting on that page as well.
Sources: Have you made adequate use of evidence to prove your points effectively? (There should be at least one in-text citation on each page. Mark any pages that need to use source material better.)
Works Cited: Read carefully through each of the works cited and note any citations that are out of order or that do not use MLA format correctly. (Use In Conversation, Ch. 27 to help you.)
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