What’s the Point Summary and Response
To fully understand a text, you must analyze it. The best kinds of analysis often have a thesis to summarize your opinions and thoughts. When creating a thesis, the easiest perspective is to see it as a question of inquiry first. Having a macro-question for your thesis and a micro-question for your arguments is important for maintaining organization throughout your essay. The tricky part with coming up with a main question is whether it is too simplistic, too broad, or unrelated to your essay. Once the question is created, it is time to create a draft for your thesis. It has to be clear, concise, and answer the question, “so what”. After completing the essay, it is essential to go back through the paper to make sure that every paragraph connects back to the thesis. I think it is extremely important to continually ask hypothetical questions throughout your essay to make sure you stay on track and keep organized. I like use the question, “so what” to craft my own thesis, which helps me get more analytical and specific on what I am writing about.
Responding – Really Responding – To Other Students’ Writing Summary and Response
A good peer editor is straightforward and gives constructive criticism to the writer. It would not be helpful to tell the writer what he/she just wants to hear. However, it is important to not be too harsh with edits. After all, you are not an editor nor the original writer, just give suggestions that the writer may or may not accept. As peer editors, you should write comments based on what type of assignment it is, the writer’s own interests, the type of work studied in class, and the stage of drafting. Again, it is important not to sound like a teacher or critic, just act as a colleague and a helper. You also should to write some compliments to balance out the comments. After reading this text, I genuinely learned more about peer editing. I now know to tie my comments in with the writer’s own goals and what the writer is learning in class, instead of just writing random comments. I also learned how to phrase my comments so they do not sound too harsh, and more like something I would like to hear more about.