GEOG 600 Peer Critique Guidelines
Seminar in Regional Geography
California as Hazard: Spring 2000
Colleague's name: _________________________________________________________
If you are in doubt about which score to assign, give the lower score, as you
are trying to flag your colleague's attention to a possible weakness.
act poss
pts pts
CONTENT:
A. The context
1. Does your colleague develop the intellectual
context of the seminar project? In other
words, does s/he briefly summarize the
existing research on the topic, with an eye
to showing how the seminar project might
add some necessary or interesting information
to that area of study? Do you think your
colleague has done his or her homework in
setting the stage for the seminar paper? One
is okay, 2 is good, and 3 is truly excellent. ....... ____ 3
2. Does your colleague indicate why the topic
might be important to society, the environ-
ment, or the disciplines of geography or
hazards? ............................................ ____ 2
B. The purpose statement
1. Is this sentence clear and easy to understand?
Does it concisely indicate what the seminar
project is going to accomplish? ..................... ____ 2
2. Does this sentence imply the approach your
colleague takes to tackle the seminar project
(does it suggest the sorts of data and methods
that are going to be used)? ......................... ____ 2
C. Data
1. Does the paper describe the kinds of data
your colleague collected to accomplish the
purpose of the project? ............................ ____ 2
2. Did your colleague collect original data on
his or her own? OR has the student identified
high quality secondary data that s/he subjects
to original analysis? ............................... ____ 4
3. Did your colleague ONLY use information
already collected and analyzed by other
researchers (as in existing articles and
books) and just report on it? ...................... ____ -2
D. Methods
1. Does your colleague discuss the methods s/he
used to collect original or secondary data? ......... ____ 2
2. Does the report discuss the specific methods
used to interpret or analyze these data? ............ ____ 2
E. Implicit Structure and Completeness of Web Site
1. Do the parts of the paper you've seen contain
a section on the physical dynamics of the
hazard it analyzes? ................................. ____ 4
2. Do the pieces also contain a section on the
social dynamics of the hazard, including such
topics as differences in vulnerability to the
hazard and in public attention paid to this
kind of social differentiation? ..................... ____ 4
3. Does this paper cover perception of the hazard
by area residents, planners and policy makers,
and/or scientific risk assessors? OR does it
apply GIS, remote sensing, or spatial statistics
to risk assessment? ................................. ____ 4
4. Is there a reference section? 4=at least 20
references, of which at least 10 are in
refereed research journals, and each text
reference is linked to the citation in the
reference page; 3=at least 20 references, of
which at least 10 are in refereed research
journals; 2=either there are not at least 20
references or there are not at least 10
refereed research journal articles; 1=there is
a reference list but there are neither the
required amount of references or journal
references; 0=no reference list ..................... ____ 4
SUM OF CONTENT: ................................................. _____ 35
WRITING, DOCUMENTATION, AND ILLUSTRATION MECHANICS:
A. Does your colleague follow Annals or other
conventional format in documentation? ................... ____ 2
B. Is every reference in the text also in the refer-
ence list and vice-versa? .............................. ____ 2
C. Is the paper well-organized and easy to follow? ........ ____ 2
D. Is the spelling perfect? ............................... ____ 2
E. Is the grammar perfect? ................................ ____ 2
F. Is sentence structure correct, complete, and varied? .... ____ 2
G. Is the paper free of potentially sexist usage? ......... ____ 1
H. Is punctuation and capitalization correct? (if you
are uncertain, check in Turabian or Strunk and White) ... ____ 1
I. Are all graphics other than lines, bullets, and
buttons in the form of links to other sites, links
to author's own site (with clear evidence of
permission to use), or original pieces of work?
1=yes; 0=no graphics (yet);-3=no or unclear ............. ____ 1
SUM OF WRITING, DOCUMENTATION, AND ILLUSTRATION MECHANICS: ............ _____ 15
SUM OF ALL POINTS (add totals for content and mechanics): .............. _____ 50
HELPFUL COMMENTS FOR YOUR COLLEAGUE:
Document maintained by Dr.
Rodrigue
Last revision: 04/04/00