{"id":237,"date":"2021-02-24T12:04:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/?p=237"},"modified":"2021-02-25T07:05:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T07:05:50","slug":"writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/2021\/02\/24\/writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for Writing Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Chris Ervin<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Writing Center, we provide students, faculty, staff, and alumni with feedback on all kinds of writing. As faculty and staff, we are similarly called on by our colleagues to provide feedback on writing like grant applications, reports, article drafts, letters, and emails. We all want to provide helpful and supportive feedback to our colleagues, and below I share an approach we use in the Writing Center to provide that kind of supportive feedback. This approach creates space for the writer to gain valuable information from you as a reader, while also emphasizing their agency and decision-making as the writer.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Share Your Observations<\/h2>\n

We begin by making observations about the text. As readers, we navigate between reading to understand and reading to look for potential. You may have noticed that when meaning is clear, we continue reading without confusion. When it\u2019s not clear, we sometimes engage in meaning-making ourselves or look for potential solutions to problems we\u2019re experiencing.<\/p>\n

However, in our feedback process, we focus on our observations. After all, our colleagues want us to help them see the draft in another way; they generally don\u2019t want us to rewrite the draft for them.\u00a0 Observing can be as simple as noticing in a non-evaluative way. For example, \u201cI noticed that the report consistently uses language and technical jargon from your discipline.\u201d Paired with the next two elements\u2014a reader\u2019s response and prompting questions\u2014observation is a valuable starting point for prompting reflection on a draft.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Respond as a Reader<\/h2>\n

The next step is giving the writer a sense of how you understand the text. In other words, respond as a reader of the text. A reader can be many things: engaged, bored, confused, surprised, and so on. This information is valuable to a writer who may want to understand how their draft is being experienced or interpreted.<\/p>\n

An example of a reader\u2019s response that might follow the observation above is, \u201cAs someone outside of your discipline, I had trouble understanding some of the technical jargon\u2014particularly in the third and fourth paragraphs.\u201d Paired with observation, the reader\u2019s response suggests one possible experience of a reader. By itself, this response is already valuable for a writer, as they might be able to determine a next step just based on the observation and response. We also have a third step though that can prompt the writer\u2019s thinking on next steps.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Ask Authentic Questions<\/h2>\n

The final step is asking authentic questions that help the writer reflect on the draft. The questions can prompt a writer to think about how to shape a draft in ways that accomplish their goals\u2014whether that\u2019s with revision or leaving the draft as-is.<\/p>\n

Questions that prompt reflection are typically questions you as the reader do not have the answer for. If you are asking a question you already know the answer to, you may be providing advice based on what you think the draft should be rather than creating space for the writer to imagine possibilities. For example, questions that relate to example in the last section might be \u201cWho is the audience\u2014or are there multiple audiences? What level of technical expertise on this topic will your reader(s) have? What familiarity would your audience(s) have with jargon and discipline-specific language?\u201d With these questions, you as the reader are not directing the writer to change or reduce the technical jargon; instead, you\u2019re prompting the reader to consider the audience\u2019s needs with regard to jargon.<\/p>\n

Facilitation vs. Direction<\/h2>\n

Following the steps outlined above can maintain a supportive stance as a reader\u2014facilitating thinking rather than directing the draft or the writer\u2019s decisions. This allows the writer, our colleagues, to maintain control of their work and draft while also gaining valuable information that can help them in decision-making and next steps for the document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Chris Ervin In the Writing Center, we provide students, faculty, staff, and alumni with feedback on all kinds of writing. As faculty and staff, we are similarly called on by our colleagues to provide feedback on writing like grant applications, reports, article drafts, letters, and emails. We all want to provide helpful and supportive … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Strategies for Writing Feedback”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-winter-2021-issue-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}