Expert Solutions

Describe those errors you commonly make (referring to Ch. 1 of the Lunsford handbook) and the elements of your paper you would like your peer reader to help you improve.

Step Three: Identify another student whose essay has not yet been peer-reviewed. Read the essay and respond to the writer no later than Friday midnight CST. I suggest you use the proofreading strategy called "beginning at the bottom" to give the essay a good, close read for distracting errors. Simply begin at the end of the essay, then move sentence by sentence backwards.

When reading the essay, you might:

Look for sentences that begin with "There is..." Sentences that rely on this construction over-use "be" verbs (is, are, was, were, been) and can be tightened (see Lunsford, pp. 99-100 for strategies to recommend to the writer).
Look for "empty" words (i.e., "kind of" or "thing") that can be removed or vague modifiers (i.e., "definitely," "major," "really," "like," and "very") that don't add meaning (see Lunsford, p. 98-99).
Look for all apostrophes, or places were apostrophes should be present to indicate possession, and note needed changes (see Lunsford, p. 8, item #14).
Look for another common error: lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent (see Lunsford, p. 9, item #17). This most often occurs when a writer has referred to a singular antecedent using a plural pronoun. For instance, in the sentence--"The writer accomplished their purpose"--"their" should be "his/her."
Look for sentences that start with a subordinating word (see Lunsford, p. 96 for a list of subordinating words), often indicating a sentence fragment (see Lunsford, p. 10, item #20).
Note the writer's sentence variety (or lack thereof) and recommend a paragraph that could easily be revised.
Note (by paragraph number) the areas of the paper that need more attention to sentence- level concerns, or that contain a blatant spelling or grammar error or typo.
Step Four: Return to this thread periodically before Sunday to ask and answer any follow-up questions.