Peer Feedback

He states “…no matter how shrewdly you figured your audience and purpose…there comes the time when you need feedback.”(237)Many people make the mistake of not getting other peoples input on their essays. Another very common mistake made by writers is that they aim to write essays correctly the first time instead of creating second drafts. Second drafts are critical as your first draft is a solid foundation that can be improved upon further survey. Creating second drafts for essays is a very important step in constructing a solid essay; I have been taught to do so at school and I improve every time I write and will continue to grow in the future.

With the guidance of Mrs. Smythe, my peers, and my parents, as well as my own determination, I have gained much better control over the English language. However, I also learned something about myself as a person throughout my time in English 9/10. I used to let fear control me in English, which would translate to other parts of my life. Throughout my seventh and eighth grade years of Middle School, I would sit in silence for entire class periods, afraid to begin my essays, afraid to have to accept that it may not be as good as my other school work, afraid of what others would think. However, I learned this year that people like my mother and grandmother were not disappointed in my work but instead would suggest ways by which I could improve my writing. Additionally Mrs. Smythe constantly helped through the feedback she provided. Even when I received my first essay back, one that was clearly not to the best of my ability, she gave balanced feedback between ways to improve my writing while also providing supporting for future assignments. “It is not necessary to convert an entire scene, just the moments that are important. The inclusion of text in the last body paragraph is most appropriate, although there is still a bit too much of it. Good effort...” Even if I forget who said what in Romeo and Juliet, or the name of the main character in The Book of Lost Things,

Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.

While attending writing class, I learned about the 4 steps in writing, bases for revising, organizing, and connecting specific information, and I also learned about the different types of essays such as descriptive, narrative, process, cause and effect and argumentative essay. I have been a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 1 semester, and over the course of my enrollment I have grown and learned more that I knew prior to attending this writing course. Participating in this writing class has taught me so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me another way of expressing myself. I have learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don 't know. Most importantly I have learned how important technique, outlines and organization are. My goal in this paper is to inform writers about how my writing skills have improved.

After reading the article, “The Maker’s Eye” by Donal Murray, I agree with the author on how writing isn’t a one step process to becoming a strong writer. Murray mentions when writers write and pause to look at others’ point of views, they go back and change their own writing. It’s true when he says that most writers are harsh on themselves. Reflecting upon myself in high school, I believe that looking at other students’ point of views would help me get new ideas because I knew my writing wasn’t the best. For instance, what my tenth grade English teacher did was a “walk through gallery” which allowed students to read other students’ responses towards the assignment and mention one good and bad part of their work. Therefore, being able to view other styles of writing caused me to change bits and pieces within my essay.

This course offers numerous opportunities to improve our writing. In this class, I not only enhanced the skills I already had, but also learned new writing concepts. Before I took this class, I knew that my writing is poor, and I have always wanted to improve it; however, I did not know how and what aspects of writing to improve. So, I came into this class with the ambition to improve my writing, and I have accomplished my goal although there is still room for improvement. At this point of this course, I have learned the elements that successful writing is composed of, and I am now able to categorize the various techniques that can work together to define strong

To begin, I am eager to receive critique and assistance regarding my writing. My hope is to develop into the best writer I can be. Having said that, fearful struck me the moment I registered for this course. Fearing that I would be expected to write essays, papers and that I would fall short in my abilities. Writing a narrative essay, reflective essay, or researching material for a persuasive essay is not something I had done. Fortunately, soon realizing that this is why I am returning to college. English Composition specifically, will guide me through the information that I need to study to become the best writer I can be. Receiving guidance is a necessary part of life, and in college, if I want to develop my skills, receiving analyzes and assistance is essential to my growth. Falling short is an opportunity to fix what is wrong. So my enthusiasm is in learning everything I possibly can to aid in my success.

Before my ENC1101 class I had no idea how to write college leveled essays. I felt like a lost puppy wondering in the woods. In the start of this class I felt stressed out because I wasn’t so sure if my writing was good enough. I spent days just trying to come up with the right ideas, but most of all I was afraid to fail the assignment. It felt like I was having writers block throughout all my essays. Even though there is a writing center in Valencia Community College and a SL tutor where I could’ve got help from I choose not to. I was afraid for someone to look at my essays and not like it or just tell me everything I did wrong. Which would have just brought me down. But in reality I have come to understand that feedback is a great way for improvement.

Peer editing has helped me become a stronger and more fluid writer this semester. I’ve never actually done peer editing within a familiar group before every paper, so having a specific day to read and comment on one another’s writing in detail has truly helped me formulate better essays overall. It has helped me not only to see small mistakes I’ve made, but how the reader or audience interprets my work. Aside from peer editing inside the classroom I’ve taken my papers to the writing center and you for advice and help. I think that through the use of these sources it has helped me to develop stronger claims, better fluidity, and coherency. By formulating ideal structures, engaging in peer editing, and creating reflection pieces, they have helped me generate overall better papers.

I believe it is important for any student who wants to do their best in a class to take a moment to evaluate their own work to determine the rate their writing is progressing and how they can continue to advance their writing. When I looked through my own work I asked myself “what have I learned this semester?” and “what do I still need to learn in order to improve my writing?”. Answering both these questions will help me with my last step of my self-evaluation, developing a plan to learn new skills.

Peer editing is something I respect so much. Any feedback I can get on my writing is very much appreciated. I was in a group working with word choice because I feel my vocabulary is not there it should be as a college student and working with my group helped me think of collegiate words that fit in to my writing. I will use the feedback they gave me to revise my writing and make it the best it can be. Although my group peer edited my writing I will also have at least one or two more people look over it so my writing is where it should

Peer reviewing can sometimes be a little frightening because no one wants to be criticized and sometimes you do not know if the person will review your paper. However, peer review is extremely helpful because you have different perspective on your essay. Through peer reviewing, I learn that getting feedback from another student is very helpful in shaping my paper to be better. I also learn that constructive criticism definitely helps improve my writing. Furthermore, a particular piece of feedback that I found most useful is the other student suggesting ideas to expand my essay and helping with the organization in order to improve the flow and clarity. The most useful feedback I gave to another student is telling them the main points I have

Over the course of this past semester, my ability to write has improved tremendously. Prior to undertaking this course, my expertise in writing was not as fine-tuned as it should have been. I had never previously been enrolled in a class specifically tailored to writing-- which was quite clear. Upon reading my past works, it becomes apparent that my writing style consisted of fluff, small words, and inconsistently structured sentences. These problems have, for the most part, been remedied with the coursework I have tackled in College Writing. Rather than long, drawn out papers that take an eternity to reach the primary point, my recent work is much nicer in terms of composition and grammar. I credit these improvements to the three primary

I have been writing since I have been in Middle School. I have realized that by college it was easier for me to write down my thoughts in order for me to remember what I have said or done. Writing out my thoughts gives me a sense of recollection, knowledge, and pacification that gets me through my day. I pictured writing to be as simple as jotting down a few sentences, but as I got farther in school I realized that there is more to it than just writing sentences. English has been my most difficult subject I have ever endured, but I have somehow been managing to make excellent grades and achieving all requirements. First in the essay, I will discuss my experiences in the English life that I’ve taken so far up until college. The second part will list my struggles in creating a thesis, a work cited, and properly citing my sources used in the papers.

Research results pertaining to feedback practices are diverse. While some studies found no significant effects, others reported positive effects and have considered it essential “for the development of second language writing skills, both for its potential for learning and for student motivation”. The past twenty years has realized changes in writing pedagogy and understanding gleaned through research has transformed current feedback practices to include teacher written comments, peer feedback, and computer mediated feedback and/or some combination thereof among others. Summative feedback has been supplanted with formative feedback and although feedback remains a central aspect of L2 writing, the research of its effectiveness remains ambiguous in some circles. Some questions that remain vague or unanswered include: Does it make a difference to students’ writing? What is the best way of delivering feedback? What role can peer feedback play in writing development? Can technology play a greater part in delivering feedback?