Our Jewish Writing group features a COW � Criteek of the Wique. Every week subscribers will have the pleasure of evaluating a fellow subscribers� brief article.
Most subscribers would probably like to know how to prepare that critique. The following guidelines will be helpful. They should be used in conjunction with our general description of critiquing, our guidelines, and our rules for posting.
Please read and heed the copyright plead below.
- Present your constructive criticism in a nice, respectful, pleasant, and courteous manner. Do not argue with or insult the writer or other Jewish Writing subscribers.
- Determine whether the article answers the following questions:
- Does the article relate to a mainstream Jewish topic?
- Does the entire article focus on a single issue?
- Is it presented clearly near the beginning?
- If not, can you understand the purpose from the text?
- Is the audience for the article stated clearly? If not, can you understand the intended audience from the text?
- Does the article distinguish between American and British English?
- Can you list some specific aspects of the article that were written particularly well?
- Does the writer present a worthwhile contribution to Jewish literature?
- Can you follow the writer�s argument?
- Is this a persuasive article? If so,
- Did the writer convince you?
- Does the writer use recognized and acceptable sources to prove his or her point(s)?
- Are the issues in the article presented and developed in a logical manner?
- True, this is not an editing group. Nonetheless, can you point out and explain any specific or outstanding stylistic or editing issues? We won't discuss them here, but they may be of benefit to the writer.
Some possible issues are as follows:- Confusing sentences
- Incorrect grammar
- Spelling misteaks
- Wrong choice of words
- Problems with singular and plural agreement
- Proofreading problems
- Too much or too little? Should anything be explained in greater detail? Should anything be removed? Be specific. I mean, like, is the writer redundant, or does he - or she, for that matter - use too many words, far too many words, or sentences, or phrases, for things that could be stated, how shall we say, succinctly or even briefly, but yet he or she does not say it in such a manner, or does he or she even use convoluted forms of speech, which I did not demonstrate here, but I could have done so under other circumstances that need not be listed here.
- Add the Form to the bottom of your manuscript.
- You may want to present other issues.
- Remember � the most important guideline is Item 1!
