How to edit your classmates' projects without sounding like a total jerk
I wanted to upload this information as its own post, because evaluating a classmate's work in this course requires explanation, and I wanted it all in one place for easy reference. Do not ignore it or assume this information is covered in the other two lectures this week!
Also, this semester I want to allow students to give a preference to who they wish to work with. Please complete this form and I will take your preferences into consideration when making groups.
This week each of you are calling in for video conferences and receive feedback on your Project #1. Next, your job is to revise the paper according to the feedback I have given you. After our conference, I take the notes from our conversation and posted them to Canvas so you can have access to them, along with a Pdf of notes I wrote on your paper. Some of you might be expected to rewrite your paper, rethink your research question, or locate new and stronger peer-reviewed sources. I am expecting you to take the conversation in our video conference and apply it to your draft.
How to revise a First Draft?
This depends on the feedback.
If I instructed you to make your question more specific, look at the alternatives I may have provided from our conversation.
If I instructed that your sources are not all peer-reviewed or providing new evidence? Sit down and make for yourself a list of new search terms related to your project and go back to the FSU database.
If I instructed that you create a reverse outline. Review your paper and using the highlighting tool, highlight your claim in one color and your evidence in another color. Does your paragraph have multiple claims? Create paragraphs for each individual claims?
If I said your phrases are awkward or are using confusing phrasing, read the paper out loud and note the times it sounds awkward or strange on your ear.
Your feedback is your feedback. Look at the comments, look at the pdf and take each thing piece by piece. Know that a first draft addresses large issues and they won't go away on their own. You must look at the feedback and make changes accordingly.
Your Project #1 Draft 2 is due on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6 before 11:59 pm. You must post Draft 2 to your Wix page and upload the link to Canvas, AND upload it to your Group's shared folder. THIS MEANS YOU ARE UPLOADING IT TWICE. This draft should look considerably different from Draft 1.
Next week, you will be asked to read your classmate's Project #1 Draft 2's and provide constructive feedback.
Here is how you Review your Classmates' work? First, go to Find Your Group. In your group, you will see a button which will lead you to your group's shared folder. Upload a copy of your draft as a Google doc. THIS MEANS YOU ARE UPLOADING IT TWICE -- AS A PDF ON YOUR WIX PAGE AND AS A GOOGLE DOC IN THE SHARED FOLDER. You must do it this way because you need a copy on your Wix page AND you need a copy for your classmate's feedback. You are expected to read the essays of EVERYONE in your group. Most groups have four people in them. That means you will read three essays.
FIRST: You will click on your classmate's doc and make a copy of it.
NEXT: Rename it: (Your Initials) Comments for (Classmate's Initials) for example the new name could look like BBCommentsforAB. This will eliminate any confusion as to who the comments are for and from. (Know that some of your classmates initials are identical. So if you are in a group with two APs, try AshP or AnsP for labelling purposes).
Now that you have a working copy of your Classmate's draft, you must edit it.
When you read your classmate's draft:
1. Title: Is it Evocative? Do you have a suggestion for a better title? If not, mark "Good Title". Examples of a bad title: Project 1 Draft 2
2. The Introduction: Strike out any sentences which are not directly about the work of fiction or the topic of the research question. If the writer summarizes the work of fiction, how many words is it? If it is more than 25 words, strike through the unnecessary words.
3. Use this highlighter key and mark these things in your classmate's paper
Yellow: highlight cliches, vague language, sentences which begin This is (That is, There are, It is, They are), or questionable word choice.
Green: Highlight the research question.
Blue: Highlight the claims in the body paragraphs.
Red: highlight unconvincing evidence, any instances of first person (I, me, my, mine, we, our), 2nd person (you, your, yours), logical fallacies, and weak claims. Also highlight any MLA style infractions (improper in-text citations, sources which should be in Italics, sources which should be in quotation marks)
Orange: passive voice
4. Transitions: Strike through all basic transitional statements (The first claim, the first finding, in conclusion).
5. Conclusion: Strike through any unnecessary summary. Underline the answer to the So What? question.
6. At the end of your classmate's document list three things you think they should continue to work on and two things they are doing well in their paper.
Edits are due to your group before 11:59 pm TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8.
After that, you also must complete the Classmate Evaluation Form. The Classmate Evaluation form will be UPLOADED DIRECTLY TO CANVAS AS A WORD DOC. Why? Because your comments are not for public consumption. It is a report for my eyes only. The Classmate Evaluation Form is due WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9.
You will be working in a group together, which means you are accountable to each other. The Evaluation form, how well you work with each other, will determine your grade. It will also determine whether you will be working with the same people for the next project.
