Overview
As you write your final project, continue to consider your audience—your reader—when writing.
In the case of class assignments, you are typically writing for your instructor and sometimes also for your peers. As such, you will choose vocabulary which reflects their knowledge and understanding of your topic.
Also continue to pay attention to the structure of your argument and how the “frame” of your thinking enables your reader to grasp your key points.
Finally, ensure that you have time to reread and revise your writing and, where available, incorporate any feedback you might receive on your work. Clear sentences, well organized paragraphs, and a consistent use of terminology will all contribute to a compelling argument that engages your reader and allows them to fully understand your point of view.
This week we will explore one strategy for structuring a well written paragraph: the claim, evidence, and analysis model. This model helps you to make a strong argument by ensuring that the reader understands the nature of your argument, the evidence and analysis that backs up your claim.
No one writes well in a vacuum and so it is a “best practice” of good writing to ask for feedback from a peer. In Week 13 you will share your writing with a classmate and ask for their thoughts on this writing sample. And then you’ll switch roles and you will give your classmate feedback on their writing. This week, we will discuss how to give and receive feedback in a way that is open, curious, and supportive.
Readings
Attridge Bufton, M. (2020, September 21). Peer feedback on academic work [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/M6ue1fzSap4 (5:51 minutes).
Attridge Bufton, M, & Jackson, D.C. (2023). Scholarship as conversation [Video]. Carleton University Library.
Bell, T. (2023, July 14). Writing an academic paragraph. Royal Roads University. https://libguides.royalroads.ca/developing_essay/bodyparas)
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & Fitzgerald, W. T. (2016). The craft of research (4th ed.). University of Chicago Press.
- Chapter 8-9: Making claims, assembling reasons and evidence (pp. 122-140).
Ede, L. (2021). The academic writer. A brief rhetoric. Bedford/St. Martin’s.
- Chapter 6: Making and supporting claims (pp. 147 — 151).
James, K. (2017, Sept. 6). Giving peer feedback helps writers grow. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/giving-peer-feedback-helps-writers-grow.
Skittles TV. (2018, October 4). Austin’s butterfly. Building excellence in student work [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/C5IhP6fvyA0. (6:32 minutes).
Before class activities
Key questions to ask while reading and watching
- Who are your readers and what do they need from you as a writer to engage in your work?
- Is your argument clear and well organized? Is it supported by credible evidence?
- What contribution are you making to the research conversation of which you are a part of?
- What process are you using to revise your work?
- How do you feel when you receive feedback? How do you want to feel when receiving feedback?
- How can you give feedback so that it is well received and helpful to others?
“Pile of words”: Group and label key concepts
Organize the words below into two lists of similar terms and label each list (include definition of each label).
Remember: You may already understand some of these ideas relatively well and others may be new to you—you are encouraged to look up (e.g., in a dictionary or encyclopedia) the unfamiliar concepts in order to create your lists.
Make note of your reasons for grouping the ideas together as you will share them in class. These are self-paced individual activities, for which there are no right or wrong answers. The instructor will not grade this work.
Predict a learning outcome
After class activities
After class, annotate each reading for key ideas. For videos and podcasts, you can annotate the transcript.
Summarize the author’s key ideas from each reading.
Highlight the following information:
- Purpose of the reading;
- Scope (the extent of the study);
- Thesis (the main argument[s]);
- Method (research method if applicable);
- Outcome(s) and conclusion.
Respond to the following statement about the readings: do you agree or disagree with the statement and why?
“Conversations are social activities in which we are expected to play our parts … But writing is an imagined conversation. Once we decide what role to play, and what role to assign to our readers, those roles are fixed.” (Booth et al., 2016, p. 16).
Did this reading provide any inspiration or insights you can use in this or any of your other classes? If yes, what is the inspiration and/or what are the insights?
