Peer Review 1

Antonio Litterio. Power of Words. 2011

I reviewed Tim's college essay. Reading it gave me a new perspective on my own story and writing.

I was worried that my passion for the topic surrounding my story would overshadow the story itself. I removed somewhere between half and three quarters of what I had written to see if the story could stand on its own. It couldn't. Tim clearly embraced his passion for the subject, and it came through in his nine page essay. Knowing a lot about a subject isn't a bad thing. I don't necessarily need to provide nine pages of information, but providing answers to questions that readers should be asking is what a good writer would do.

Tim's essay had a clever title. I need a clever title.

One thing that I noticed in Tim's writing that wouldn't fly in a QRG is the flowery language. I felt like I was in a theater as the plot was unfolding. I mentioned it as a critique in my comments, but it might work in his piece. I, however, will need to go through my drafts and make sure my writing is concise. It usually isn't.

Also, the formatting didn't follow the traditional format throughout the whole essay. He clearly took writing directly from blog posts and added them into the writing, but I'm assuming he'll fix that this week.