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Critiquing your own work and the work of others is one of the most important learning outcomes for the ENG 122-123 sequence. So far this year, we’ve developed draft reviewing and commenting skills by commenting on other students’ papers, but every professional needs to be able to assess the quality of their own written products and be able to improve them. You’ll develop your ability to do this work by using the same skills and procedures to analyze on your own writing and determine what improvements to make.
PRO TIP: Be sure to follow the links in the instructions below to refresh your memory of the advanced source-use strategies we were working on before break.
All year we’ve been using the same Describe-Diagnose-Suggest-Engage process in peer review. Now, we’ll use the same strategy to comment on our own drafts. See the sample comment to the left to see what I’m looking for. You should make at least 3 comments of this substantive quality.
Focus your attention on these areas of your paper:
- How well does your introduction “come-to-terms” with the full-range of the debate you’re writing about?
- By this I mean, a) How well does it introduce the topic of debate and the most important questions that people are arguing about? b) How well does it narrow the debate to a smaller subtopic that your paper will address? c) How well does it bring forward the key terms and ideas of the most important 2 or 3 writers of the debate? d) How well does it establish your own thesis with both a complaint and a pitch (follow the link for a refresher on complaint and pitch).
- How well do you “come-to-terms” with the sources/writers who influenced your thinking on the question?
- define the writer’s project
- notice and define key words and passages
- assess the uses and limits of the writer’s approach to the topoc
- How well do you make the 4 forwarding and 3 countering moves when you paraphrase or quote another writer?
- How well does your conclusion highlight your contributions to the debate as a response to another writer’s view and say why your contribution matters?
