Preparing to Write
Read analytically and critically. Who is the
author? What is the author's point of view? How persuasive is it? What
evidence does the author provide to support her or his argument? What questions
does the reading raise for you?
Be on the lookout for themes in the
readings. Do the various authors in a group have the same general point
of view? Do they contradict or disagree with each other? Do their descriptions
of reality match yours, cause you to re-evaluate your position on an issue,
or cause you to question their credibility?
Read directions and rubrics or scoring
criteria carefully. We follow them closely when responding to student
work.
Look at the samples of student writing on
the web. Although you should not follow them slavishly, they will give
you a sense of the finished product, and that might save you time and worry.
Writing
Use your writing to think. There's nothing like
trying to write an idea out for someone else to show you the fuzzy bits
in your thinking. Don't be afraid of multiple drafts or of re-writes; they
are opportunities to clarify and refine your ideas, not "hoops" through
which you must obediently jump.
Each paper you write should have an
argument, a case that you are trying to make. For example, in a thematic
paper you will argue that a particular theme really does run through a
set of readings. You will also take a stance on this theme yourself and
argue for your own position and its relationship to the positions of the
authors. In your SLP, you will be making a case for your interpretation
of your interview and observation data.
Your argument, point of view, interpretation,
or "take" on any given set of readings will be different than your reader's.
This is fine, but it requires you to be clear about both your argument
and its support. Do not count on the reader to "read between the lines."
(Reading between the lines is what we all do when we read, of course, but
it is tricky when the reader's task is to evaluate the writer's grasp of
ideas. Are we evaluting our own thinking or the writer's?)
Strive for clear and concise prose.
Some students think they must use $10 words and long, complex sentences
to impress the reader. (This is a belief unfortunately shared by too many
academic writers.) Unnecessary complexity only irritates, it does not impress.
Keep your "voice." Feel free to use the first
person in your writing for this class ("I" instead of "this writer.") Think
of your writing as a way to communicate your interesting ideas about the
readings and the important topics they address.
Responding to our responses
We work hard on our feedback. Each time we read
and comment on student work we have an opportunity to teach. Our comments
are our part of the dialogue between you (the Writer) and us (the Readers).
We will raise questions, challenge your positions, point out fuzzy bits
or apparent misunderstandings, answer questions you put in your papers,
and give you a sense of our emotional or aesthetic response as well.
Each paper will probably have both
a summary comment and margin notes. The summary comment gives an overall
view of strengths, weaknesses, and our response to the paper as a whole.
It is generally closely aligned with the scoring rubric, especially for
SLPs. If you are asked to revise and resubmit, the summary comment
should make it clear what you need to do to revise. Sometimes this will
mean rewriting the paper, but more often it will mean clarifying a point
or two or addressing a forgotten reading. Please let us know if you
do not understand how to go about rewriting. We will be happy to discuss
our comments with you.
We spend time at the beginning
of the quarter "calibrating" our responses so that it shouldn't matter
which of us reads your papers. We continue to spot check during the term.
If you sense that we are not being consistent in our responses, please
let us know. Either of us will be happy to read a paper the other has already
responded to and give you our "read" on both the paper and the feedback
given.
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