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Correctness | Marginal Notes | End Commentary | Peer Response
Self-Reflection | Case Resources | Additional Resources
Too often, response and evaluation are regarded as a single activity in the teaching of writing. When instructors proceed under this assumption, their comments mainly justify the final grade (evaluation) and don't necessarily provide the formative guidance that can help student writers learn and grow. Allowing students to take their writing assignments through a series of drafts and/or stages opens a space for substantial response from faculty (and peers). This page offers suggestions for providing productive responses to student texts.
A Word About Correctness
When we review a first draft, it is often tempting to point out all of the surface-level errors. While students certainly need to become conscious editors of their own prose, focusing on mechanical features at an early stage in the writing process may give students the impression that they do not need to deepen their thinking or expand their ideas. Thus, when possible, initial responses to student writing should address ideas and larger rhetorical issues. At later stages of the writing process, correctness becomes a more substantial concern.
Once you begin marking student errors, it's important not to appear to be writing in code. If you use standard editing symbols (“mm” for “misplaced modifier” or the like), give students a translation guide. Better yet, if you are using The Everyday Writer (or another handbook), key your editing symbols to the ones presented in the handbook. You can even refer students to sections of the handbook that address their specific errors.
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Marginal Comments
We may all remember the cryptic marginalia – “awk,” “wrong word,” “explain,” or simply, “?” – that our writing instructors left in our margins. While these notations may seem perfectly intelligible to us now, our students are often puzzled – or worse, discouraged – by the marks on their papers. For that reason, it makes sense to be as clear as possible in the margins (and elsewhere): If a student has chosen a “wrong word,” what is wrong about it? What, specifically, needs further explanation? Is the passage awkward because it is off topic or because of a syntactical misfire?
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End Commentary
The standard formula for end commentary - compliment followed by suggestions for future changes/revisions - reminds us to help students learn to see both what they do well and what they need to improve in their writing. While it might be tempting to provide volumes of end commentary or marginal notes for students who are struggling, such commentary may be merely (and unfortunately) overwhelming. Many writing instructors choose 2-3 main items to address in their end commentary (for example, the organization and examples, and then a recurring error in punctuation). For each of these items, pointing to specific examples in a paper increases the chances that the student will be able to catch the error (or repeat the success) in the future.
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Peer Response
Responding to student writing needn't be entirely the instructor's responsibility. In fact, peer response groups are a very effective way to encourage revision and also to give students practice at editing their own and their peers' work. Nevertheless, many instructors find that “peer review day” becomes little more than an exercise in flattery and time-wasting. As with any other academic skill, we can't assume that our students know how to read thoughtfully.
There are various ways to provide structure and guidance to peer review exercises; for example:
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Self-Reflection
In addition to feedback from you and from their peers, students often benefit from the chance to reflect on their own writing practices. Creating opportunities for students to pause and think about their "finished" writing has the added benefit of encouraging them to revise and to remain engaged with their work.
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Additional Resources for Students
Beyond your classroom, students at Case have a variety of other writing resources available to them. They can take their work to the SAGES Peer Writing Crew or to the Writing Center; they can enroll in additional writing courses. In addition, you can require or recommend that your students take advantage of these resources.
- > Additional Writing Resouces for Students (Word Doc) - This can be handed directly to students, or used for your own reference.
- > Writing Center Referral Form (PDF) - This form is not necessary for a student to make an appointment with the Writing Center, but it can be used to start a dialogue with the Writing Center instructors. (Consider having the student come meet with you after attending a session at the Center - find out what was discussed and what the student's writing plan is for the next essay.)
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