In this article the author, Richard
Straub, gives the audience guidance on how to properly read, evaluate and
respond to student writing. Straub gives ideas on what to look for, how to
sound, and the goals to create when helping the writer. He stresses pushing the
writer out of their comfort zone and the pointing out issues you may have
encountered while reading their paper. Once you have established the holes in
the paper it is important for you to start looking for areas of improvement in
a constructive way. It is essential for
you to establish the goals that you want to accomplish and understand your role
as the reader. Keep in mind that the reader should share their understanding of
the reading with the writer and convey what they found intriguing. With this
done, you can grasp what the writer is missing, which leads to asking questions
and offering suggestions. Before you begin reading the paper it is essential to
understand the circumstances of the writing. Straub made four critical points
that support these circumstances. The reader should “look at the writing in
terms of the assignment, the writer’s particular interest and aims, the work
you’ve perused in class and the stage of drafting”. When looking at the writing
in terms of the assignment, ask yourself whether the writer met the requirements
of the particular kind of writing. Is the paper supposed to be a letter? A
report? An analysis? Consider what the writer wants to achieve. Is the writer reflecting
on a past experience? Or is the writer telling a narrative? What is the significance?
Assist the reader in connecting what they are learning in class to what their
writing. This may include adding detail, finding innovative methods to argue a
subject, or clarifying these arguments even better. In this process, be sure to
comfort the writer so that the writer can do more than he/she usually does. Focus
on the stage of drafting and recognize whether the paper is a rough draft or
final draft. In early drafting concentrate on the content, arrangement and
writing style. When dealing with the final draft in addition to the overall
content, consider fine-tuning sentences and dealing with detail but only as
suggestions. Moreover, it is vital to understand the writer’s style when
commenting on their paper. Use your
comments to address the key points of your response and also to elaborate on
what you want the writer to get out of your response. When you respond to the
writer, respond based on the relationship you have with the writer. You want to
keep the response as normal as possible, just as if you were having a general
conversation with the writer. Be sure to keep your comments in your space and
not covered all over the paper.
I agree that the
author argued his points well for responding to other students’ writing. Straub
did a great job elaborating on the circumstances of writing. He used valid
examples and strong supporting details. Also, he made sure he did not beat
around the bush and he specified his reasoning. Rich Straub even went on to
display how a correctly commented paper should look. I surely appreciate the
author’s recognition of the audience he was sharing the information with.
The golden line
that surely stood out to me was, “this means looking at the writing in terms of the
assignment, the writer’s particular interest and aims, the work you’ve been
doing in class, and the staging of drafting”(pg. 138).
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