Colleague's name: _________________________________________________________
act poss
pts pts
CONTENT:
Is this paper related to geography or planning? ............ _____ 1
Is the paper at the right level? ........................... _____ 1
___ It's too general or cosmic = 0
___ It's about right = 1
___ It is much too specific = 0
Is there a good analysis of the trends within the
subdiscipline? ......................................... _____ 4
___ Is each trend clearly discussed? (2 is average or OK)
___ Does the paper contradict itself anywhere?
___ Does any section just confuse you?
Does the paper coherently integrate the subfield? .......... _____ 4
___ Can you see how the different parts connect?
___ Does the author always relate things to the
"big picture" in the subfield?
Is the paper current? ...................................... _____ 2
___ Are there journal articles more recent
than 1993?
___ Do you get the feeling that the author got
all or most of the journal sources from the
bibliographies of books (which makes most of
them older than the books themselves), rather
than scouting some out independently?
___ If the paper has new sources, are they just
"window-dressing" -- cited, but not really
important or relevant to the discussion?
Does the author find any puzzling gaps in the field? ....... _____ 1
TOTAL ...................................................... _____ 13
DOCUMENTATION
With a copy of a recent beige-cover Annals
or xeroxed pages from it in hand, make sure that
Annals format has been followed to every
period, comma, semi-colon, italicization OR under-
lining, and capitalization and that information is
organized in the Annals sequence (lastname,
first. year. title. book or journal. and so on).
Is the Annals format followed in the text? ................. _____ 1
Is it followed in the reference list, too? ................. _____ 1
Is the author consistent in text and list formats? ......... _____ 1
Did the author use every reference in the
reference list at least once in the text? ............... _____ 1
Did the author put every parenthetical text
reference in the reference list at the end? ............. _____ 1
Count them: are there at least 10 research
journal, monograph, or research-oriented
government documents in the reference list
(which have also been cited in the text)? ............... _____ 1
TOTAL ...................................................... _____ 6
WRITING MECHANICS
Is the paper well-organized and the writing
easy to follow? ......................................... _____ 3
___ It's horrible, confusing, disconnected = 0
___ It's bad in places = 1
___ It's not hard to follow anywhere = 2
___ It is very easy to follow, each idea just
seeming to flow naturally from the last one
and into the next one = 3
Spelling ................................................... _____ 2
___ Careless spelling errors, inconsistencies,
and transpositions are all over the place:
You can tell the author is too lazy to
check, to proofread, or (if challenged with
certain types of dyslexia) to get anyone else
to proof the paper = 0
___ There are a very few errors here and there = 1
___ There are no errors you could find = 2
Grammar .................................................... _____ 2
Do subjects and verbs always agree? Does the
the author stay in the same tense, unless it is
clearly important to change tenses? Are all
pronouns in the right case and number?
___ Grammar errors are all over = 0
___ There are a few grammatical errors = 1
___ There are no errors you could spot = 2
Syntax ..................................................... _____ 2
Does the author always use complete sentences?
Does the author vary the sentence structure, so
the text isn't monotonous?
Does the author use "big words" correctly?
___ Sentence structure is horrible, making the
paper unnecessarily difficult to read = 0
___ Most of the time, sentence structure is
okay, but there are some sentence fragments,
misused words, or monotonous stretches of
repetitious sentence structure (hint: you'll
find yourself bored in such stretches) = 1
___ Sentence structure and usage is flawless and
varied throughout the paper = 2
Punctuation and capitalization ............................. _____ 2
Look out for comma splices, excessive use of
commas, too few commas (so that some sentences
need to be read over), mixing up commas with
semi-colons, using periods when commas are
called for, or capitalizing inconsistently or
excessively.
___ Punctuation or capitalization is hopeless = 0
___ Most of the time, punctuation and capitaliza-
tion are used properly, but there are errors = 1
___ There are no errors you could see = 2
Avoiding sexist usage ...................................... _____ 2
"Man" is used, when "human" or "society" is meant;
"mankind" is used, instead of "humankind" or
"humanity" or "society"; "he" is used for generic
individuals
___ Sexist usage is found even once = 0
___ Sexist usage is avoided, but the writing is a
little stilted and conspicuous ("he or she,"
"s/he," "his or her," changing from "he" to
"she" constantly) = 1
___ There is no sexist usage, and the writing is
graceful about it (perhaps the author uses
plural constructions or "one") = 2
Style ...................................................... _____ 1
Is the writing free of mechanical error and also
so graceful, sophisticated, and engaging that
you know this paper could be published in a maga-
zine or journal without further editing? Does
the author seem to be a professional writer? Did
the writing itself make the paper interesting to
you (even if you normally don't care for the
topic)?
___ The author has serious writing problems = -1
___ The author is competent, even good, but not
quite elegant (though there may be some cute
or pretentious attempts at style and sophisti-
cation)
___ The author has publishable style = 1
TOTAL ...................................................... _____ 14
NOW, SOME MATH
Take the total for content and multiply by 0.9 ............. _____ 12
Take the total for documentation and write it here ......... _____ 6
Divide the total for writing mechanics by 2 ................ _____ 7
TAKE THE GRAND TOTAL ....................................... _____ 25
MULTIPLY THE GRAND TOTAL BY 8 .............................. _____ 200
REFLECT ON THIS PAPER A BIT. Sometimes you feel as though a
mere summing of points somehow gives more credit than the paper truly
is worth or that the sum actually makes the paper look worse than it
really is. Do you have this nagging little feeling about this paper?
Would you like to express that the paper is less than or more than
the sum of its points? If so, pick a negative or positive adjustment
from 1-5.
ADD THIS NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE NUMBER TO THE GRAND TOTAL
(e.g., 144 + 5 = 149 or 144 + (-5) = 139 ................... _____ 200
Now, add a few helpful and constructive comments, so your colleague can
improve this paper.