Section 29: Workshop

HW, part 1 Reread your draft and see if you can improve on it. Then, before noon on Saturday
  1. Save your draft in docx or pdf format (the peer review function on Canvas doesn’t work with pages documents)
  2. Upload your draft to the essay 3 peer review draft page on our canvas site (10 am or 1 pm)

HW, part 2: Workshop Preparation Monday in class, you’ll get together with your writing partners to discuss each other’s essays.

Before Class

Use the online peer review application on Canvas to read your writing partners’ essays and write feedback. By around 1 pm Saturday, you’ll be assigned writing partners/essays to peer review—be on the lookout for a notification from Canvas or an email from me
  1. Before commenting an essay, I recommend reading it through once
  2. Use the comment feature to provide feedback directly on the essay. For instance, you could indicate
    • Things you like (e.g. “well put,” “interesting idea”)
    • Places where you are unsure of the writer’s meaning (?)
    • Places where you think the writer should elaborate on a point (“expand,” “explain”)
    • Places where you’d like a concrete example to illustrate a general claim (“illustrate”)
  3. Use the rubric to summarize your observations or suggestions about the specified elements of the essay

During Class

  1. Before conversing with your writing partners, quickly read over their comments. Note any follow-up questions you have or remarks you’d like them to clarify
  2. Discuss one essay at a time
  3. Take as your starting point the strength of the essay—the insight the writer should build on and refine
  4. Wrap up your discussion of each essay by summing up the 3 or 4 the most important things the writer could do to improve the essay