Content: Claim
- Whose draft are you responding to?
- In your own words, what do you think the author is trying to accomplish – their purpose – in the essay
- Is the author’s claim open to challenge and sophisticated? Why or why not?
Evidence: Research
4. What specific evidence (research, direct quotes, statistics, etc.) in the essay best supports the author’s claim, and why?
5. What specific evidence in the essay could be better integrated, more fully discussed, or more effectively used, and why?
6. How effectively does the author put the research – multiple sources – into a conversation with one another, synthesizing the sources, so the reader sees the connections between the sources and the author’s own argument?
Aristotelian Concerns: Appeals, Organization, Refutation
7. Where specifically in the essay does the author consider and refute their opposition? Given the academic audience, would you characterize the refutation as fully developed and ethical? Why?
8. Characterize the author’s ethos. Does the author seem reputable and fair as he/she presents their argument. Why?
9. What should the author prioritize and work on when they revise?