NONFICTION Peer Review Letter via Email (cc me): Carefully read the writer’s essay. Then reread it. On your second reading, highlight or underline anything that could be improved in clarity and style. Write marginal notes to the writer regarding problematic or troubling spots. Next, draft a letter to the writer in which you articulate, in your own words: 1. what the essay is doing—main ideas; 2. the strengths of the essay; 3. two or more elements on which the writer should focus in revisions, along with specific examples—specific spots in the draft—that help to explain why these elements need attention. 4. Any other comments or suggestions you think might assist the writer. Remember, the recipient of the letter can only benefit from honest criticism, as well as encouragement. Please review the Peer Review Form; you do not need to fill this out (although you may do so to provide additional helpful detail for the writer), but you should address as many of those elements in your thorough, close-reading of your peer’s essay. This is also an exercise in letter-writing, a beautiful, lost form.

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FICTION Peer Review Letter via Email (cc me): Carefully read the writer’s story. Then reread it. On your second reading, highlight or underline anything that could be improved in clarity and style. Write marginal notes to the writer regarding problematic or troubling spots. Next, draft a letter to the writer in which you articulate, in your own words: 1. what the story is doing—main ideas; 2. the strengths of the story; 3. two or more elements on which the writer should focus in revisions, along with specific examples—specific spots in the draft—that help to explain why these elements need attention. 4. Any other comments or suggestions you think might assist the writer. Remember, the recipient of the letter can only benefit from honest criticism, as well as encouragement. Please review the Peer Review Form; you do not need to fill this out (although you may do so to provide additional helpful detail for the writer), but you should address as many of those elements in your thorough, close-reading of your peer’s story. This is also an exercise in letter-writing, a beautiful, lost form.

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POETRY Peer Letter via email (cc me): Carefully read the writer’s poem. Then reread it. On your second reading, highlight or underline anything that could be improved in clarity and style. Write marginal notes to the writer regarding problematic or troubling spots. Next, draft a letter to the writer in which you articulate, in your own words: 1. what the poem is doing—main ideas; 2. the strengths of the draft; 3. two elements on which the writer should focus in revisions, along with specific examples—specific spots in the draft—that help to explain why these elements need attention. 4. Any other comments or suggestions you think might assist the writer. Be honest with your criticisms. Remember, the recipient of the letter can only benefit from honest criticism, as well as encouragement. Please review the Peer Review Form; you do not need to fill this out (although you may do so to provide additional helpful detail for the writer), but you should address as many of those elements in your thorough, close-reading of the writer’s poem. This is also an exercise in letter-writing, a beautiful, lost form.