Peer Review of the First Draft

Your written analysis of your work is an important part of your project because it shows us your understanding of the work you have been doing. We expect your first draft to be a complete first attempt which includes documentation, a bibliography, and a title page. Be sure to read these guidelines as you are writing your paper.
You must have two copies of both your rough draft and your final paper.

1. The Abstract
   • Is the abstract a concise summary of the project?
2. The Introduction
   • Does the introduction explain the topic and present a clearly stated hypothesis?
3. Does the literature review read like a good analytical paper and make references to the authors, their articles or books and their contributions to the field?
4. Does the writer draw connections between the readings? Does the writer draw connections the readings and his / her project?
5. Does the literature review contain strong augmentation and analysis of the information as well as factual information and some key quotations?
6. Does this section of the paper contain a conclusion which connects readings to the student's project or experiment?
7. Has the writer drawn from a number of sources?
8. Procedure
   • Does the procedure section offer a thorough and detailed description of the experimental design or other method used to conduct this research in paragraph form?
   • Does the writer carefully define terms here or in an attached glossary?
   • Do you, the reader, understand what the experiment is all about? Is this section both logical and precise? Does the writer leave out any important information? Are the variable (controlled, independent, dependent) clearly identified?
9. Analysis and Conclusions
   • Does the writer present and analyze the data clearly and accurately?
   • Does the writer clearly present all the data from his work?
   • Does the writer use appropriate data to support his / her conclusions?
   • Does the writer draw conclusions between his / her results and some of the readings discussed in the literature review?
   • Does the writer accomplish the goal of bringing the parts of the paper together in the conclusion?
   • Does the writer discuss potential research or application for this project?
10. Documentation
    • How carefully and accurately is the paper documented? Does the writer give credit for nonoriginal ideas that are presented? Is the bibliography and the system of documentation consistent and clear?
11. Style / Organization
    • Does the paper follow the struture outlined in the instructions for reporting on your research and / or experimentation?
    • Is the style energetic, interesting and clear? Is it appropriate to a paper of this kind? Is the writing grammatically coherent? Are the paragraphs connected to one another?
12. Presentation
    • Is the paper free of distracting typographical errors and errors in spelling? Does the writer use clear 12 point font? Is the paper doubled spaced? Does it contain a title page and full bibliography?
    • Does the writer clarify difficult concepts with appropriate graphs, tables and diagrams? Are these clearly presented and properly labled?
    • Is a necessary Acknoledgement, glossary and appendix included and appropriately done?
13. Suggestions
    • Do you have any additional suggestions not addressed here?