UGA Writing Intensive Program

Feedback on first drafts: Keep focus global

1) Talk over objectives of first draft and the feedback process. Make sure the writer knows what the goals of a first draft are and what kind of response to expect.

2) Before the first draft, ask for a working thesis and point list. Respond to this inceptual work before students invest themselves in a first draft.

3) Encourage self-review -- first -- before students submit the initial draft: for example, ask students to a) highlight thesis or topic sentences or b) to submit the draft with a cover memo or notes in margins about decisions that need to be made and questions about where the work should go. This will anchor your first reading and make it go more quickly.

4) Use peer review as "reader testing": Generate a simple feedback guide or rubric, ask students to find to or more "stakeholder" readers, and then to submit responses along with their first draft or to move on to the second draft using peer feedback. Dr. Shelley Zuraw, Lamar Dodd
School of Art, finds it useful, after training students to read each other's work, to give students points for the quality of their peer review feedback.

5) When it's just you and the first draft:

Scan and focus on assignment and draft goals, perhaps making a note or two (limit them) on a separate page.

Rank and limit your suggestions to agreed-upon first-draft concerns. You may want to focus on only one macro issue (thesis/"methods" or "results"section descriptions or organizing plan) only (at the most 2 global issues).

Frame your suggestions in terms of first draft goals: "To do this, try this . . ."

Give a reason for each suggestion/option you present.

6) Look for ways to use the first draft as a trust-building experience. You want to direct the work in profitable ways. You might tell students where their efforts should go in two "next steps" and/or suggest adjustments in the student's writing process.

7) Especially in first draft feedback, be a source of ideas and inspiration for the student. It's a rewarding role, and since you are not "grading" you can wear a white hat. Use all of your communication skills to keep the student engaged in the writing process. The best insights usually develop relatively late in the process, so keep students engaged-drafting-revising is crucial to improving quality.

8) Encourage email for 1st drafts and early-process feedback: you can scan quickly and give
feedback on the most important points for that stage: thesis and sequence of ideas, directions work should go in, conventions/appropriate format; what's promising/what needs a re-think. As a preparation strategy for the first draft, ask students to email their working theses.

WIP note: Some of the guides above are adapted from Paul Anderson's Technical Communication (4th ed, Harbrace, 1998), which teaches a reader-centered, collegial, and process approach to professional communication that is useful for writing in the disciplines.