Step One
Post your rough draft here for review by your peers, instructor, and other mentors. (Plan to spend several hours on this drafting phase of the writing process.) When you have created your draft, pleasecut and pasteit from the original document (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, or so on) as your initial post.
Remember, your essay should include:
- AnIntroductionwith essential information about the text you’ll be writing about:
- Identify the community that you’re writing about
- Give an overview of the issue in the community that you are writing about
- Be sure to include a draft of a complex, argumentative thesis statement detailing what position you take on the issue and why.
- ABody: You’ve probably already done much of the work you’ve needed to do in order to draft your body paragraphs!
- Through the body, your essay will discuss the main topics of your argument and the strengths and possible weaknesses of your position or course of action
- Be sure to usequotations, signal phrases, and proper MLA documentationto bring in evidence to support your position from the sources you have researched.
- AConclusionthat summarizes your main points and suggests action that the reader should take after reading your essay.
- AWorks Cited pagein MLA format that includes each of your sources.
- Refer to theResearched Argument Assignment Sheet & Rubricas needed
Step Two
Once you posted your rough draft for review, help (at least) one of your classmates revise their essay. Focus on the overall structure of their argument and the clarity of their ideas to you as a reader. Here are some questions to get you started:
Content: First, identify a strength related to the content. Then, offer suggestions. Questions to consider include: Is your classmate's analysis interesting? Does it seem like they're making a reasonable argument about their source's use of rhetorical strategies? Do any areas go off on tangents or contain information that is not related to rhetorical analysis or the reflective part of the essay?
Organization: First, identify a strength related to organization; then, offer feedback on the overall organization of the essay. Questions to consider include: Can I easily follow the argument my classmate is making, or do I get lost somewhere along the way? Does the introduction introduce the article being analyzed (including author and title) and a rhetorical analysis claim? Does each body paragraph focus on one main idea related to rhetorical analysis? Is the reflection interesting?
Finally,
if you're feeling stuck with what to say, you might check out thisshort (3 minute) video. And remember,
Peer review is not about finding “what’s wrong” with a draft - it’s a way to learn from reading others’ work, and also to “re-see” what we have created in our own drafts and identifying ways to improve the clarity of our ideas. Readers are not expected to be experts, just to give their impressions based on what’s present in the draft.
Readers: Be generous with your comments -- don’t just default to “everything looks good!” Your instincts and insights will help the writer break through to a stronger draft. Trust yourself. You have ideas. Give them away. Write something positive. Say what works well. Writing is hard. We all need encouragement.
Writers: Be brave and open to what your readers observe. Consider different perspectives. Don’t rush to defend what you’ve written -- remember that your writing is a work in progress. And also, you don’t need to take every suggestion. Decide what makes the most sense based on what you want for the paper.