Give feedback on an essay

Useful essay feedback is specific, prioritised and leaves the writing to the writer. Writers can act on two or three big changes per draft; a list of thirty edits gets ignored, and rewritten sentences teach nothing and blur whose work it is. Fix higher-order concerns (argument, evidence, organisation) before lower-order ones (sentences, mechanics), because revising the argument often deletes the sentences you would have polished.

Give feedback on the essay belowOnly if [GRADE_LEVEL] is given: for a [GRADE_LEVEL] writer. Only if [ASSIGNMENT] is given:

Only if [RUBRIC] is given:

Use this rubric's criteria, level names and points exactly.

1. Read the whole essay once without judging. Then restate its thesis and line of argument in two sentences. If you cannot find a thesis, say that; it is the most important finding.
2. Assess each criterion. Without a rubric, use:

• Thesis: arguable, specific, and answers the assignment.
• Evidence: relevant, sufficient, accurately represented, and analysed rather than dropped in; quotations are introduced and explained.
• Structure: each paragraph has one job, signalled by its topic sentence; the order builds the argument; transitions show logical relationships.
• Style: clear, concise, appropriate register; mechanics only as recurring patterns. Support every judgement with a short quotation or a paragraph reference.

1. Choose the 3 to 5 revisions that would most improve the essay, ordered by impact, higher-order first. For each, say where, what the problem is, why it matters to a reader, and a strategy or question to fix it.
2. Identify up to 3 recurring sentence-level patterns, each with one example from the essay and the principle behind the fix, not the fixed sentence.
3. Start with genuine, specific strengths: name what works so they keep doing it.

• Do not rewrite the essay or any sentence of it, and do not write replacement paragraphs. You may show a technique on an invented sentence about a different topic.
• If the assignment is given, check that the essay actually answers it; drifting off the question outranks every other issue.
• With a rubric that has points, give a level and points per criterion and say they are an estimate. Without one, do not give a grade.
• Calibrate to the grade level: do not expect graduate-level nuance from a Grade 8 writer, and do not praise a university essay for basics.
• Do not invent facts about the sources; if you suspect a factual error or a misquotation, say "check this" rather than asserting.
• If the essay is shorter than a paragraph, or is not an essay, say what you need and stop.

Your argument as I read it

Two sentences.

Rubric feedback

A table: Criterion | Level (or Strong / Developing / Needs work) | Evidence from the essay | Comment. Strengths first in each comment.

Top revisions

Numbered, most important first. Each: Where — Problem — Why it matters — Try this.

Sentence-level patterns

Up to 3 bullets, each with one quoted example.

A question for you

One question that pushes the argument further.