Peer Review 1 Tool Summary Becoming A Reliable.docx

Peer Review 1 Tool: Summary
Becoming A Reliable Critic by Evaluating Writing
The ability to critique our own writing, to find mistakes and
correct them, is developed over time as we read and evaluate
the work of others, then apply what we have learned to our own
work. To facilitate this process, I am providing some focused
questions to help you learn to critique Paper 1 effectively.
Particularly since your first paper is a summary, rather than the
personal or analytical essays you might be used to writing, the
criteria shifts to what the original author is saying, rather than
any personal view of the the student summarizer.
You may also use these questions to critique your own work.
For your Peer Review, please follow the numbered format of
this sheet in answering the questions. For example, discuss
thesis first, then main points, etc. Be sure to answer all
applicable questions.
Evaluation Questions:
1. The ThesisFollowing summary conventions, is the thesis
clearly indicated in the first few sentences, along with original
author and title? Is the thesis accurate to the original?Is it
expressed in the summarizer’s own words?
2. Main pointsHas the summarizer selected the appropriate
main points? Is there a point that you need to hear about, or
more about?Are the main points accurately expressed, in the
summarizer’s own words? If a quote is used, is it an
appropriate quote?If there are any details brought up, are they
limited and significant to the main points?
3. Organization/CoherenceAre there appropriate paragraph
breaks? (Remember that a summary should not be a series of
detached, short paragraphs. Main points will be integrated into
paragraphs together.)Does the summary flow well, both between
sentences and between paragraphs? Where does the summary
seem disjointed or choppy?

4. Paraphrasing/Style/MechanicsOverall, does the summarizer
do a good job of using his/her own words? What sentences
might seem awkward, choppy or inaccurate? What sentences
are good examples of paraphrasing?Are there places where word
choices are confusing?Are there places where grammar errors
distract from meaning?
5. ToneDoes the summarizer remain consistently objective
throughout the summary?
6. Opinion paragraphDoes the summarizer take a clear position
on the original essay in this paragraph?Is the opinion well
developed with specific support? Where would you like to hear
more?
Scenario: Steve recently accepted an opportunity to travel to
Venezuela for his American-owned company. This is his first
opportunity to travel outside of the United States. Steve is an
exemplary employee and takes his job very seriously. His job is
to convince a Venezuelan company that they should become
partners with his American company.
On his first visit, Steve is upset that no one shows up on time
for his important visit. In fact, he almost has to wait an hour for
everyone to show up for a scheduled meeting. To top it all off,
no one wants to talk business. They all want to talk about
families and the weather. Finally, to Steve's surprise, they ask
him to go out to dinner for the evening. No business is
discussed and the evening is wasted.
Steve decides they are not interested and does not return the
next day for another meeting. The Venezuelan company is
greatly offended by Steve's behavior.
Question
Using terminology from this week, explain to what extent the
scenario is an example of ethnocentrism and also think about
what other cultural issues are in this scenario. If Steve practiced
cultural relativity, holism, or even had a cross-cultural

perspective, what are some issues that might explain the
Venezuelans' behavior? Please be sure to cite textbook page
number when using terminology.
www.eddigest.com4
A s t h e e l e c t i o n o f 2 0 1 6
proved, it has become increas-
ingly difficult to distinguish
real news from fake news. Be-
tween social media posts, ran-
dom Google searches, and the
prevalence of Wikipedia, how
is anyone supposed to know
the difference between fact and
fiction? As educators, we are
charged with not only teaching
students how to find accurate
and reliable information, but
also modeling that same behav-
ior in our own lives.
Unlike 20 years ago, today’s
news is reported in real time
and is often dictated not only by
what is happening in the world,
Fake News
vs. Real News
How do we to teach ourselves
and our students to know the difference?

By Lisa Crate
From NJEA Review
Lisa Crate is a school librarian and media specialist at Christa
McAuliffe Middle School, Jackson, NJ. Condensed, with
permission,
from NJEA Review, 90 (March 2017), 26-27, the official
journal of
the New Jersey Education Association.
but what the audience wants
to hear and see. In addition,
people throughout the world
are no longer bystanders who
simply watch the news as it hap-
pens. They are often part of the
news itself, filming or publishing
items on their own and instantly
uploading those items to social
media sites for everyone to see.
Taking into account the unfor-
tunate truth that much of the
uploaded videos and photos are
often manipulated or edited to
fit a chosen narrative, it’s easy
to see why so many people are
easily fooled and why it is dif-
ficult for students and adults
alike to filter out truly reliable
information.
So how do educators teach
students to become active citi-

fake news vs. real news
September 2017 5
zens? What skills should be
imparted so that every student
has a better understanding of
the information that confronts
him/her? Through media lit-
eracy courses at the middle and
high school levels, students are
given the opportunity to explore
the news and gain a better un-
derstanding of what information
is accurate and reliable as op-
posed to what might be consid-
ered propaganda. Students are
taught to ask themselves simple
questions that will assist them
in determining the accuracy of
the news they are viewing.
Following are tips to ensure
the material you and your stu-
dents are viewing is worth your
time. Reinforcing these habits is
one way to ensure your students
are looking at reliable, accurate
information.
✓ Examine the author and
the sponsors.
When viewing online news
sources, it is important to look
at who authored the article as

well as who sponsors the page.
Because we are constantly in-
undated with advertisements,
we can become oblivious to
the commercials running on
our computer screens. As a re-
sult, many of us forget that the
sponsors of the page often have
control over what information is
presented.
While researching healthy
eating habits, one of my stu-
dents was confronted with what
seemed like good information,
but the student noticed that the
website was sponsored by Mc-
Donald’s. After much discussion
and further research, the stu-
dent decided that though most
of the information appeared
to be reliable, the source itself
was in direct conflict with the
information presented.
✓ Check for source
reliability.
Once the authenticity of the
author or website sponsor has
been verified, students are then
taught to look at where the in-
formation in the article comes
from. Are multiple primar y
sources listed? Are the source
links able to be viewed? If claims

presented as fact can easily
be disproven through further
research, students begin to rec-
ognize that the material being
presented may not be accurate
and should be dismissed.
Primary sources are a must.
Documents, scientific data,
physical artifacts, and original
photos are all excellent exam-
ples of what students look for
while researching a topic. It is
important, however, to remind
students that photographs can
be taken out of context or ap-
propriated from an unrelated
www.eddigest.com
THE EDUCATION DIGEST
6
story to lend credence to an
otherwise unreliable story. Re-
mind students that primar y
sources are essential in estab-
lishing whether or not a story is
legitimate. Seeking out primary
sources must be encouraged
in every classroom on a daily
basis. Students begin to under-
stand very quickly that if no

such sources are listed with a
particular news item, or if a link
is clicked on and it ultimately
goes nowhere, that particular
article is not reliable.
✓ Look at the time and
place of the story.
Another useful tip for stu-
dents is to determine where
the story was published. Take
a look at the “About” portion of
the site to see if the site is linked
to other reputable online news
sources. Does the site have a
large body of published work
that can be examined?
Check the date of publica-
tion. This alone can be helpful
in determining whether or not
a story is factual. People are
often concerned if an article
or online story is too old, but
another red flag is anything
published as “Breaking News.”
People around the world have
the ability to upload anything
and call it news. Is the “Breaking
News” questionable in content?
Can it be verified as something
that has actually happened?
Recently, students in my

school who were doing research
on the presidential election
stumbled upon several websites
that help the user generate
“Breaking News” stories that
could then be uploaded onto
social media sites. This was
an eye-opening moment for
ever yone and presented the
perfect opportunity to teach
the importance of checking the
facts and encouraging students
to take the time to authenticate
what is presented. Each student
who participated in this class
realized that reposting items
on their social media accounts
prior to checking for accuracy
could cause them some serious
embarrassment and potential
harm to others.
✓ Consider the emotions
evoked by the story.
Finally, when watching or
reading news reports, students
should think about how the
information being presented
makes them feel. Real news
gives facts and information that
can be investigated and verified
as either correct or incorrect.
Propaganda tells a different
story. When students take the
time to analyze how the news

truly makes them feel, there is
a better understanding of what
is real and what is fake. F
fake news vs. real news
September 2017 7
Propaganda that is disguised
as news may offer some facts re-
garding a situation or event, but
the feelings evoked by a story
are often the true indication of
its purpose. If a student reads
a story and instantly becomes
incredibly angry, he/she is en-
couraged to stop, breathe, and
authenticate the facts that are
being presented.
Students are also cautioned
to consider whether or not an
article is legitimate if they com-
pletely agree with every word
written. It should be a very rare
to almost nonexistent occur-
rence to have everything in a
news story line up directly with
the reader’s beliefs about a top-
ic. After all, what is the purpose
of news? It is quite simply to
inform and sometimes challenge
your thoughts about a topic.

Taking the time to verify
what is being presented with at
least three different reputable
news sources to see what is
true, and what is being misrep-
resented as true, goes a long
way in helping students have
a better understanding of what
real news is. The goal of media
literacy at any grade level is to
have students understand that
they can’t believe everything
they read or see.
✓ Technology overload.
With technology permeating
every corner of our lives, it is
vital that we begin teaching
students from a young age the
basics of understanding the dif-
ference between real and fake
news. Students in every grade
level are bombarded with im-
ages and stories from the news,
and are often unaware of the
impact these news items may
have on them. While today’s
educators already have a lot
on their plates, it is ultimately
in all of our interests to teach
students to look at the news
with a more critical eye.
Nearly everyone has the abil-
ity to read, explore, and under-

stand today’s news stories if
they are willing to take the time.
Asking the right questions is the
ultimate key to ensuring that
the news that is being viewed is
accurate. In this digital world, it
is no longer acceptable to take
every piece of information as
fact.
It is the duty and responsibil-
ity of not only every teacher, but
every American, to view each
tweet, Facebook post, meme,
blog, and news story with a criti-
cal eye. People can no longer af-
ford to blindly follow the masses
and hope for the best. Now is
the time to become interested,
informed, and empowered, and
we must teach every student to
do the same. n
Copyright of Education Digest is the property of Prakken
Publications and its content may not
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without the copyright holder's
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individual use.
HERE'S A SAMPLE OF AN EXCELLENT SUMMARY:
Student Name

English 201
Summary of “Always Their Own Worst Enemies”
In the essay, “Always Their Own Worst Enemies”, by
Evan Thomas, Martha Brant, Karen Breslau, Arian Campo-
Flores, and Suzanne Smalley the general consensus is that “the
biggest crisis facing Hillary Clinton…is her own campaign”.
However, this essay shows that Hillary is a strong, resilient and
passionate woman despite the many oversights of her
campaign. She is prepared to fine-tune the difficulties and stay
attentive and focused on the next step forward. When faced
with an obstacle in her campaign, whether it is winning at the
polls in Ohio and Texas, taking bad advice from her husband
and advisers, or going on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily
Show”, Hillary Clinton manages to maintain her composure and
resilience throughout it all.
This essay exposes Clinton’s campaign to be
unorganized, misleading and often confusing. It’s accused of
mixing messages and shifting its weight as a strategy to confuse
voters. An advertisement known as the “red phone” asks who
the public would trust in a time of national crisis. The ad
naturally pinpoints Clinton as the most experienced, but in
reality, the voters don’t have the ability to know who will be
better if a situation ever does arise. However confusing the
tactic, it did help her win over Ohio and Texas in order to come
back against Obama.
The essay bluntly states that Obama’s campaign out-
manages Clinton’s. Her two primary campaign staff were
rumored to have lashed out at one another in disagreement on
more than one occasion and eventually it came down to them
being unable to resolve their differences. With this kind of
inconsistency it’s no wonder the Clinton campaign is so
unorganized. Clinton’s husband’s role in the campaign adds to
the confusion. Already, during campaigning, former president
Clinton is interfering and it doesn’t seem to be going over well.
In one instance, Bill suggested to Hillary that she should gear
her campaign towards negative messaging about Obama. It

worked temporarily and then backfired in Iowa and South
Carolina. Yet despite these pitfalls, Hillary Clinton was
determined, insisting, “We can win this. I know we can win
this.”
Clinton is consistently resilient and passionate no
matter what is thrown her direction. As her campaign attempts
to move away from the negative and move towards familiarizing
the people with her, she preserves that same resilience and
passion. Her passion, a good friend of Clinton’s recalls, is one
of her strengths. She is determined and focused on what’s
ahead of her and she has proven that even with the mistakes and
difficulties of her campaign she is unrelenting.
At first glance I assumed that the essay was a negative
position on Clinton’s entire campaign, which would include
Hillary as well. After taking a closer look, I realized that the
negativity was directed solely at Clinton’s campaign and not
directed towards her at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite
with her. For every negative aspect of the campaign that was
pointed out, a positive aspect about Hillary herself was paired
alongside. The essay mounts the majority of the blame on her
advisers and her husband which makes her appear as a victim of
her own campaign. I thought that the essay was very well
written and it was structured in such a way that it was hard not
to side with Hillary.
WORKS CITED
Thomas, Evan, Brent, Martha, Breslau, Karen, Campo-flores,
Arian, and Suzanne Smalley. "Always Their
Own Worst Enemies." Newsweek 15: 11 (3/17/2008): 41-43.
Print.
HERE'S A SAMPLE OF A WEAK SUMMARY, WITH
COMMENTS IN RED BY ME.
Student Name
English 201
Lacks a title indicating this is a summary
Hillary Clinton is often viewed as a political powerhouse,
which may also be her downfall, but she remains resilient in her

fight for presidency. Needs to identify author and title, so the
audience realizes this is a summary of someone else’s ideas, not
the student author’s own ideas. Clinton has been very persistent
in her fight for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. No
matter what stands in her way, she always seems to prove that
she is in this fight to win it, even through all of the hurdles she
has encountered as both first lady and nominee. She has shown
the public that she is relentless, which has made some people
very critical that she is too determined, even comparing her to
Freddy Krueger in the sense that no matter what you do to her,
she keeps going. Her campaign on the other hand, is not as well
organized. These previous two sentences are a good paraphrase
of the thesis. Her former campaign manager is quite as
admirable, as he is seen as the "clumsy geek" in school. This
last sentence gets the paragraph off track.
This needs a stronger connecting transition to the last
paragraph. Her senate office, on the other hand, appears to be
run very well, with a friendly competitiveness among staff
members. She can be humorous in the office, and yet has proven
to be calm even during tough times like on September 11th. On
that fateful day, she was reassuring her staff as they were being
rushed out of the Russell Senate Office building. Keeping your
composure during such an event is a very important quality to
have as President. Most of this paragraph focuses on an example
in the original essay, and so loses the overall idea. It also
leaves out significant points that the strong summary sample
covers.
Even throughout all the trouble in her past, through the whole
Monica Lewinsky scandal, she has held on as a presidential
front runner. Bill Clinton also has received grief from
supporting and campaigning for his wife. He continues to
campaign for Hillary, and they are battling this out together.
This previous sentence provides an idea that is not present in
the original essay. She may be seen as a "tough-minded"
candidate, but she is also seen as incredibly
resilient.”Incredibly resilient” are copied words from the

original, so they need quotation marks. No matter what you
think of her, there is no denying that she is a strong woman who
can create a passionate image as well as that of a powerful
leader.
This sample lacks an ending paragraph of personal opinion and
a Works Cited.
SUMMARY
GRADING STANDARDS ENGLISH 201
To place these standards into the larger context of the class,
first look at “Grading Standards” in our Resources module,
which go into detail about the overall standards for our papers,
including the research paper.
Because our summary assignment is different from our other
assignments—summarizing another writer’s ideas rather than
your own--the criteria needs to reflect that difference. For
example, in a summary it’s more important that your thesis be
accurate to the original than sophisticated, since you’re stating
someone else’s ideas. Rather than “evidence,” you’re
summarizing the “Main Points” of the selected essay for
category II. Plus a new category is added at the bottom, that
focuses specifically on requirements for a summary: that you
use your own words rather than the author’s, that you maintain
the order of the original essay, etc.
CRITERIA:
I. THESIS
Is accurately stated at the beginning, with attribution to
author and title
Is well focused
II. MAIN POINTS
Main points are accurate
Main points are concise
Main points are clear
III. ORGANIZATION
Paragraphs unified

Paragraphs coherent
Transitions clear and flowing
IV. VOICE
Is formal
Is objective
V. STYLE
Uses precise diction
Avoids wordiness/cliches
Uses sentence variety
Maintains summary conventions
VI. MECHANICS
Punctuation
Grammar
Spelling
VII. SUMMARY/PARAPHRASE
Uses own words
Maintains original order
Provides opinion paragraph
Fulfills assignment
Paper Format Guidelines
Please use the format below to write your papers for this course.
Your Name
English 201
Paper name
Date
Your Title Centered Here!
Essays for this course should be formatted as this essay is
formatted, except for line spacing. Therefore, you should also
read this essay for more specific directions on format

requirements. Before you write your paper, check your font type
and size. Please use an easily readable font; my eyes will thank
you. In addition, select a regular font (not bold), using either 12
or 14 font size. Set up the page for 1.5 or double spacing.
Please do not use single-spacing. Set one inch margins all
around for your page. Do not use right justified margins.
Do not use a title page for essays. Instead, beginning at
the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type
your name, English 101, Paper # (along with the number plus
the option # if applicable) then the date on separate lines, with
1.5 or double spacing between each line. Space again and center
the title. You must create your own titles for each paper; do not
use the title of the book or the assignment. Use upper and
lower case letters to type the title. Use neither quotation marks
nor underline, italics or bold font for your title. Follow standard
rules for capitalization and underlining/italicizing or put
quotation marks around only those words that you would
underline/italicize in the text of the paper (i.e. another title).
Space (one 1.5 or double space) between the lines of the title, if
it is more than one line long.
An essay should be double (or 1.5) spaced throughout,
including the heading, title, and quotations. Spaces only once
between paragraphs, not two. Indent the first word of each new
paragraph five spaces from the left margin. Indent long
quotations (four lines or more) ten spaces from the left margin.
Follow guidelines for using MLA documentation in Navigating
America carefully, and ask questions whenever you're unsure..
When you think you have fixed everything and are ready
to submit the paper, please print a copy of it and read it
carefully. Experience has proven that working only on-screen
leads to careless errors. In addition, please be sure you have
saved the paper in the appropriate format.
To be safe, always save your paper on both your hard
drive and a diskette. You may need to resubmit your assignment
in the case there is some problem in the transmission.

Works Cited
Don't forget your Works Cited bibliographic references for all
papers!

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