Make initial e-mail contact once you have been assigned your peer group and given e-mail addresses:

• Start your e-mail program and in the address line, insert the e-mail addresses for the members of your peer group.  (You may want to create a distribution list .

• Copy “cc” your teacher.

• Send an introductory message to all peers

• Share some personal information (age, major, hometown, hobbies, and the like) and give your topic idea for the essay.

Share coversheet and draft 2 of Essay 3 with your peer group via e-mail.

• Complete the coversheet and draft 2 of Essay 3 and save the document using your last name and college initials as the file name (i.e.: doemtsu).  If there are several students with the same last name in your class, include as part of the file name your initials (i.e.: doejrmtsu).

• Start your e-mail program and in the address line, insert the e-mail addresses for the members of your peer group. 

• In the subject line write your name and essay 3.

• Copy “cc” your teacher. 

• For the body of the message 

  • You may want to write a word of greeting or explanation to your readers.

  • Then send your coversheet and draft 2 of Essay 3 either as an attachment (With Microsoft Outlook you attach files by clicking on the paper clip icon on the tool bar, browsing your documents for the desired file, and double-clicking the file name; with Netscape Messenger you select “attach” first), or by copy and paste into e-mail from your Word document.

Respond to your peers’ coversheets and essays, answering the questions on page 4 of this handout. 

Get suggestions from your peer group for names for the website and nominate one name for your group.  Then, students from all three colleges will select the name from peer group nominations

Give the essay’s title. 

What were your reactions when first reading this draft?

What is the writer’s purpose?  How well does that purpose address the writing assignment?

What is the writer’s role?  Is that role appropriate for the purpose of the essay?

To what audience is the essay directed?  

Does the targeted audience address the assignment requirements? 

Does the writer describe the audience sufficiently on the coversheet?  If not, what else is needed?

List at least two examples that show how this essay appeals to the needs of this audience.  Refer to specific tone, word choice, details included, format, and so forth.

What dominant impression of the profile subject does the essay make?

Is the dominant impression expressed or implied by a thesis?  Is the thesis specific enough?  If not, make suggestions for narrowing the focus.

Reread each paragraph, noting whether it is related to the thesis of the essay.  Identify any paragraphs that do not seem to relate to the essay’s thesis.

Comment on how well the writer has covered of the topic, discussing the who, what, where, when, how, and why of the profile? 

List some of the most interesting information you learned about the subject.

List some of the information you found least interesting or off the subject of the profile.

Identify any information that confused you.

Identify points that needed more development.

Comment on the clarity and correctness of the writer’s language and identify any technical terms that need defined.

Comment on the writer’s use of sources (interview and publications): sufficient? clear? correctly documented?

Comment on the effectiveness of the opening paragraph to get the readers’ attention, establish a dominant impression, and introduce the readers to the essay’s perspective.

Comment on the effectiveness the closing paragraph to conclude the profile well, reinforcing the dominant impression of the profile subject and ending the essay smoothly.

Conclude your response with any other observations about the coversheet and draft not covered above.