The Art of the Essay: Anthropologies of Everyday Life
EGL 238, Summer 2006
Jonah Willihnganz
Stanford University

"The continuous movement back and forth from the specific instance to general significance,
from fact to meaning, from sensory and emotional to the intellectual—such is the art of the essay."
                                              —Carol Burke and Molly Best Tinsley

Peer Critique Form for Essay Workshops

Please complete this form for each essay that you read and bring them to class for the workshop. To help your author you might indicate page numbers or key your comments to marginal notes you have made on your copy of their essay.

1. What do you think is the central insight, claim, perspective, or discovery of this essay, and where is it best articulated? 

 

 

 

 

2. What do you find most engaging about this essay? What do you think would most make a general, educated reader invest in its journey? This may or may not include the central idea, as you've described it above. 

 

 

 

 

3. Generally speaking, successful essays give us two distinct elements: (1) vivid scenes and descriptions and (2) provactive, accute analysis and reflection. How could the author press either of these elements further—that is, make the scenes and descriptions more immediate and concrete or make the reflection and analysis more penetrating? Suggest one specific strategy for improving either of these elements.

 

 

 

 

 

4. What are other aspects of the essay that could most use improvement? Consider three levels: (1) Argument / Point of View, (2) Structure and Development, and (3) Prose. Try to prioritize the your suggestions (e.g.: creating a more dramatic opening would come before adjusting diction in the fourth paragraph) and make your suggestions as specific as possible (e.g.: instead of "make this stronger" suggest, say, personifying the chosen object to give its description more presence).