After writing my draft of my exploratory essay, we did a workshop in class. In the workshop, each person read their paper aloud and then we took about 15 minutes to discuss each person's essay. Each member of my inquiry group gave me feedback on my essay. They pointed out some strong spots, but they also pointed out spots that needed some work. It is nice to hear someone say that a particular part of your paper was good, but what really helps you develop a better paper is when people point out the weak spots and give you advice on how you could do better in these areas. I got some good advice. For example, I was a little too opinionated in my essay when it's not an assignment that you can be opinionated with. I also needed a works cited page, which I had left out.
In addition to getting good feedback from my group, I also gave others feedback on their essays. I noticed some of my peers' papers had things missing. Some of them didn't have correct headings, titles, or they were also missing citations. We had a lot of the same issues among all of our papers. I think that this was a good use of class time because it has really helped me improve my essay.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that enjoyed the in class workshop. Also, it is good that you appreciate and understand that having peer editors is essential to improving your writing. In your post you could have went into more detail on the advice that you received from each member of your group and your plans for revision. Check out this website on revising your writing, and maybe you could get some ideas on how to plan for revising your writing. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/revise.html