Please find your conference time slot in the shared Google Drive folder for the class, and ahead of your scheduled conference, review the following conference preparation form and follow the instructions within it: Conference Preparation Form. Also, review the information below to understand the point of an individual conference so that you can complete the form appropriately. The individual conference with the instructor will focus mostly on language. Our consideration of language includes grammar, usage, punctuation, citation, spelling, sentence structure and style.
Prepare your questions in advance. Think about what you want to ask the instructor. Make note of things you’re not sure about and locate parts of your draft you think are more problematic than others or need to be improved. Try to figure out what might be making some parts of your draft less good than other parts. Formulate questions about how your work can be improved. Here are some suggestions about how you can prepare so as to get the most out of individual conferences:
- Analyze your use of source material. Check any paraphrases and quotations against the original texts. Quotations should replicate the original author’s words, while paraphrases should maintain the original author’s meaning but have altered language and sentence structures. For each source, confirm that you have adhered to the preferred style guide for the target journal or other venue.
- Consider individual sentences in terms of grammar, mechanics, and punctuation. Many LOCs can be revised by isolating and examining different elements of the text. Read the text sentence by sentence, considering the grammar and sentence structure. Remember, a sentence may be grammatically correct and still confuse readers.If you notice a pattern—say, a tendency to misplace modifiers or add unnecessary commas—read the paper looking only for that error. Read the document backwards, word for word, looking for spelling errors. Throughout the writing process and especially at this stage of revision, keep a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a writing handbook nearby.
- Strategies such as reading aloud and seeking feedback are useful at all points in the revision process. Reading aloud will give you distance from the text and prevent you from skimming over what is actually written on the page. This strategy will help you to identify both HOCs, such as missing concepts, and LOCs, such as typos. Additionally, seeking feedback will allow you to test your ideas and writing on real readers. Seek feedback from readers both inside and outside of your target audience in order to gain different perspectives.
Note that by default Google Docs underlines errors; keep the Tools > Spelling > Underline errors feature on. You can also check spelling in Google Docs by selecting Tools > Spelling > Spell check.
Prior to the conference make sure you accepted or rejected all suggestions and resolved all comments in your draft. Remember to relabel your draft by renaming it “[first name last name] Assignment [number] Draft [number] – revised”
Bring your completed conference preparation handout to your conference meeting. After the individual conference make any changes to your draft that you consider appropriate ahead of submitting your final draft.
– Adapted from Lumen, English Composition 1, “Writing Process: Revising,” accessed August 9, 2018 text-lower-order-concerns