Peer Review relies on collaboration — the art of working together to create something. When you collaborate with someone else, you share ideas — you don’t compete to see who’s got the better idea (or paper). Instead, your goal is to make the best end product — paper, project, presentation — that you can.
In high school peer reviewing was helpful because it allowed for multiple perspectives on my paper, and helped strengthen my ideas.
Negative feedback generally means that the reader struggled with something in your piece: either they couldn’t follow the timeline, or they couldn’t see enough detail to understand your point, or they were otherwise confused.
Having a clear thesis and point of view in a paper is crucial in order for your readers to understand it .
Remind yourself, as you edit, that your goal is to help make the paper you’re looking at into the best version of itself that you can.
I tend to edit my sentences as I write them throughout the paper and then go back again after I finish my rough draft and touch them up some more so its clear and concise.
Here are a few tips for providing good critical feedback: Be specific. State where problems are found by line number or paragraph number. Quote or re-write sentences that need to be edited and show the problems clearly. Ask questions. There’s a huge difference between saying “I got lost in paragraph 2” and “What did you mean by ____ in paragraph 2?” The second one gives the writer something to do — she can answer that question and fix the paragraph. Limit yourself to a reasonable number of critical comments. Aim for an equal ratio of negative to positive feedback. This isn’t just an ego-saver! If a paper is in such an early draft that you can only find 2 positive things to say, the author probably doesn’t need a pile of criticism yet.
These are helpful points.
We tend to focus on what’s going wrong in a paper because, as writers and students, we want to know what to fix as we go through the revision process.
My teachers were very strict in Highschool of what format to use such as too much summary and not enough analysis which helped me in the end to construct better papers.
Finally, as a general guideline, don’t write anything you wouldn’t say to the writer face-to-face
Unless you're trying to prove your point in an debate essay.
Think, again, about helpful feedback you’ve received in the past; now, think of a time when you received criticism that wasn’t helpful. Generally, writers respond to bad, negative feedback in one of two ways: 1). “How DARE you insult my beloved work? I’m not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!” or 2). “You’re sooooo right, it’s terrible, it’s all trash, I’m throwing the whole thing away and starting over, or maybe I’ll just give up!”
Depending on how much effort I put into a writing, constructive criticism is a great way to judge what needs to be updated and taken out.
To stimulate ideas, you can ask questions that help you generate content. Use some of the examples below or come up with your own.
Asking rhetorical questions in an essay is effective. Think about what question the section is trying to answer. Then simply phrase it as a question rather than a sentence. The question should be direct so that the reader knows exactly where you're going in the argument.
Write as much as you can, as quickly as you can. Don’t edit or cross anything out. (Note: if you must edit as you go, just write the correction and keep moving along. Don’t go for the perfect word, just get the idea on the page.)
Depending on how much time you have to write the essay you don't need to write as fast as possible because the ideas are never thought out and when you need to analyze key ideas this can backfire, unless you have time to go back and edit your rough draft sentences.
A traditional outline uses a numbering and indentation scheme to help organize your thoughts. Generally, you begin with your main point, perhaps stated as a thesis, and place the subtopics, usually the main supports for your thesis/main point, and finally flesh out the details underneath each subtopic. Each subtopic is numbered and has the same level of indentation. Details under each subtopic are given a different style of number or letter and are indented further to the right. It’s expected that each subtopic will merit at least two details. NOTE: Most word-processing applications include outlining capabilities.
One of the best methods for research projects.
Write down all of your ideas; don’t eliminate anything until you are done brainstorming. Don’t bother with editing at this stage. Work as quickly as you can. If you get stuck, stop and review your work OR get someone else’s input. Each method can work as a solo technique or with others.
I've found that for me free writing and then editing specific words or the structure of the sentences usually ends with the best results for me, and speed writing doesn't help because you second guess more of what you originally wrote.
And the most basic way for readers to answer those questions (when they’re reading a work written in APA or MLA style) is (1) to look at the information in the citation, and (2) skim the references or works cited section alphabetically, looking for the first letter in the citation. There’s an assumption that the first letter of a citation will be the letter to look for in the list of works cited.
This is an easy setup to follow for works cited pages.
A bunch of diving boards lined up without a pool (tons of quotes with no analysis) wouldn’t please anyone—except maybe Uncle Barry.
Having strong concrete details and commentary analysis is key instead of just quotes with analysis.
But often, a paragraph-beginning or paragraph-closing quotation feels rushed, unexplained, disjointed
This isn't always true because It depends on the topic and type of essay you're writing about.
“Your thesis must come in the first paragraph.”
Said every English teacher ever.
Good writers blend argument and evidence as they write, so that readers get both elements together all the way through. Good revisers go back and adjust the recipe, seeking a workable combination
Having a variety of commentary and analysis can help prove the point you're trying to make in your argument,
“I have a little green ball about an inch in diameter, small enough to hide in your hand. It’s light neon green like highlighter ink and made of smooth shiny rubber with a slightly rough line running around its equator as if two halves were joined together. When I drop it on the tile floor, it bounces back nearly as high as my hand; when I throw it down the hallway, it careens unpredictably off the walls and floor.” Now the ball in your mind matches the ball in my hand much more closely.
A nice usage of imagery here to better explain the situation.
Write about what you know about, are curious about, are passionate about (or what you can find a way to be curious about or interested in). Show, don’t just tell. Adapt to the audience and purpose you’re writing for.
Exactly, It is way easier to write about topics your passionate about instead of boring topics and having writers block.
Always have a thesis. I before E except after C. No one-sentence paragraphs. Use concrete nouns. A semi-colon joins two complete sentences. A conclusion restates the thesis and the topic sentences. Don’t use “I,” check your spelling, make three main points, and don’t repeat yourself. Don’t use contractions. Cite at least three sources, capitalize proper nouns, and don’t use “you.” Don’t start a sentence with “And” or “But,” don’t end a sentence with a preposition, give two examples in every paragraph, and use transition words. Don’t use transition words too much.
Every single essay I've ever written has at least one of these rules which adds stress and constantly makes me revise sentences because of them. Also who started this trend to have all these rules for a essay?
and I still sit down at my keyboard every week and think, writing is hard.
Nice to see the author add some comedic effects to the reading.