Understanding Feedback and Revision
Collecting feedback from your instructor, peers, writing center tutors, and other readers is crucial to your revision process. When you receive such feedback, take time to read, evaluate, and work with the comments for effective results.
Revision should address the questions and concerns raised by your readers, leading to meaningful, substantial changes. If feedback is unclear to you, seek clarity from your readers before incorporating or setting aside unclear comments.
As writers, it is essential that we learn the process of revising our work. Your courses may have such revision processes built into them (like the peer-response assignments and workshops, visits to the writing center, drafts for which you receive instructor feedback, etc.). Even if your classes do not include such components, offering, receiving, and responding to feedback at multiple stages of your project can help you tremendously as a writer.
SECTION 1: Peer Workshops
SECTION 2: Instructor Feedback
SECTION 3: Other Resources (The Writing Center)
1. Peer Critique
Peer critique can sound like a nerve-wracking process if you have not done it before. It can be intimidating to both offer and receive feedback on writing from peers instead of your instructor. However, reviewing your peers鈥� papers and letting your peer review your writing can have multiple benefits:
陇 It is an opportunity to learn from each other and be exposed different writing
styles and approaches to the same prompt.
陇 A second set of eyes will help you see how your writing can be clearer to a wider
readership.
陇 The conversations that peer-review exercises generate can help you and your peer
explore new and sophisticated ideas.
陇 Last but not least, a good peer-response workshop creates a stronger learning
community--a community that you can rely on beyond the course in question.
Successfully reviewing a peer鈥檚 paper is a skill that you should keep refining. Here
are some pointers on how to be a good reviewer:
DO:
陇 Consider yourself a friendly reader approaching your peer鈥檚 writing with an eagerness
to understand and value their ideas as opposed to approaching it with an intention
to judge and destroy their writing.
陇 Point to problems and areas for improvement but do it in a constructive way.
Always be ready to praise but always look to point to places that are not working
well or that are not yet working as well as they might. Always be ready to expect
more from the writer.
陇 Challenge yourself to write as many praise comments as criticisms. When you praise,
praise well. Sincerity and specificity are everything when it comes to a compliment.
陇 Identify what you got from reading your peer鈥檚 paper and what you found interesting,
where you were confused; where you wanted more. Then, point out problems, ask questions,
offer advice, and wonder out loud with the writer about their ideas.
AVOID:
陇 Don鈥檛 set out to seek and destroy all errors and problems in the writing. If you
see recurring errors, note them down in a summative comment. Avoid adding comments
all over the writing.
陇 Do not write single-word comments. Explain fully what you find problematic, or
interesting. Explain any suggestions you may have. Explain your interpretations, problems,
questions, and advice. The key is to be as specific as possible.
Kinds of Useful Feedback
Praise: Descriptive commentary that encourages and recognizes what the writer does well (鈥淚 liked this idea/sentence/move because . . ., 鈥� 鈥測our paragraph on A is strong due to . . .鈥�)
Questions: Questions posed for clarification (鈥淎re you sure this is what you mean? What I understand by this phrasing is . . .鈥�; 鈥淲hat is meant by _____ in the second paragraph of your essay? Could you clarify with specific examples?鈥�)
Challenges: Commentary that challenges writer鈥檚 ideas and offers counter-arguments (鈥淚 am not sure about this claim because . . . 鈥�; 鈥淵ou argue that _____, yet from what I understand/know . . . ,鈥� While _____ is true, your point on _____ )
Suggestions: Comments that offer overall suggestions for revision. These are usually forward-looking comments. (鈥淧erhaps you could write this in a more concise manner and cut the part about . . .鈥�; 鈥淢aybe your second paragraph can be combined with the content of the fifth for better organization.鈥�; 鈥淚 think another example could help your claim鈥�; 鈥淭his sentence and several others are fragments and you might want to revise the essay with an eye toward鈥︹��)
Comparisons: Comments that offer a generative and helpful comparison between the peer鈥檚 writing and the assignment prompt, reviewer鈥檚 own writing, or other peers鈥� writings ("I noticed that you began two paragraphs with quotes, and I see that all my paragraphs begin with an assertive claim from my own thinking鈥�; 鈥淥ther students seem to respond to the prompt in a similar way that you do, in that . . .鈥�; 鈥渁fter reading the assignment description, I noticed that you didn't include . . .鈥�)
2. Instructor Feedback
Your instructors are the best resources when it comes to your revision process. Seeking clarification from your instructors regarding their comments and rubrics can significantly improve the quality of your paper. They will be more than willing to help you determine the best direction for your revision.
They will offer feedback in different ways:
陇 Rubrics
陇 End/summative comments
陇 Marginal Comments
陇 One-on-one conferences
Some instructors (and other readers) may use specific words when providing you with
feedback. The following list (while not exhaustive) can help eliminate some of the
confusion and offers tips for revision.
1. Vague (abstract, unclear)
If a sentence or passage is vague, it often contains abstract rather than concrete nouns. Here are some other causes of vagueness:
陇 A pronoun doesn't have a clear noun to which it refers
陇 You've written "this" to refer to an idea from a previous sentence, but it's not
clear what idea you mean
陇 You've put so many clauses between the subject and verb that the sentence is hard
to follow.
If you find that your writing is vague or unclear:
陇 Make sure that each time you use a pronoun, you can point to the noun that it
replaces.
陇 Always place a noun after "this."
陇 Make sure that your verb follows your subject, without any clauses in between.
2. Awkward (awk.)
Because of sentence structure or word choice, the meaning of a passage is hard to follow.
If you find that your writing is awkward:
陇 Make sure that your verb follows your subject, without any clauses in between.
陇 Include transitional words to help your reader follow your logic.
陇 Use direct, concrete words rather than high-flown language; your instructor cares
about your ideas, not about your ability to use a thesaurus.
陇 Use active rather than passive construction. (Read more about this in the Guide to Grammar.)
陇 If appropriate, make your subject a concrete noun.
陇 Use vivid, active verbs rather than forms of "to be."
3. Diction (wrong word, ww, word choice, wc)
Instructors use this term to mean that your word choice is not appropriate or does
not make sense in the sentence. Such problems result when you don't really understand
the material you're writing about or when you use words with which you're not familiar.
A good first step is to look up the word in a dictionary. Study how it is used in
sentences. If you find that diction is a problem, read your own paper aloud to yourself.
Often, reading aloud helps you to hear problems that you don't see when you read it
silently. If problems persist, ask a friend to read the paper, looking especially
for words that don't seem to express the meaning you're after. Writing Center tutors
can help as objective readers.
4. Syntax (syn)
This comment refers to sentence structure. If your syntax - the way you order words,
phrases, or clauses - gets in the way of meaning, your reader will notice the problem.
To revise, see suggestions for awkwardness.
5. Wordy
It's good discipline to edit out unnecessary words in your writing. You don't want to bury your ideas in words that don't contribute to meaning. To avoid wordiness
陇 Use concrete nouns and vivid verbs.
陇 Avoid empty words, such as "aspect," "case," "factor," "field," "kind," "situation,"
"thing," "type."
陇 Substitute single words for wordy phrases (e.g., use "because," not "due to the
fact that").
陇 Cut out unnecessary repetition (e.g., "return again," cooperate together").
陇 A void beginning too many sentences with "there is" or "it is " (or "there are,"
"there were," etc.
陇 Combine sentences to avoid repeating words.
3. Other Resources (The Writing Center)
The Philip Boshoff Writing Center (Link): The Writing Center has tutors who undergo special training to provide and respond to feedback. They can be a great resource at any stage in your writing process. Take advantage of this invaluable resource for all kinds of writing assignments!