Getting Feedback
Writers need readers, so audience is central to most writing situations. Academic writing is no exception, so having someone else give you feedback on your writing is crucial for your success.
If you get no feedback during your writing process, especially when the assignment is unfamiliar or the ideas are complex, you run the risk of writing a text that is only comprehensible to you. You don’t want to wait to find out that your reader cannot understand your ideas until after you have handed in the assignment, so getting feedback should be a normal part of your process.
Finding a Reader
You have a number of choices of people you can ask for feedback:
- Especially in writing classes, your professors will frequently require some kind of peer response from your classmates. Even if this isn’t required, you can connect with at least one classmate and offer to exchange drafts.
- Your campus almost certainly has writing tutors. These tutors may be professional tutors or they may be students, but either way, they will be strong writers. They also will have gone through training to enable them to provide helpful guidance for writers.
- Your professor may be willing to read drafts of material, though I recommend going to office hours (or setting up an appointment) with a draft rather than trying to email it. I know that I turn away emailed requests for me to review a draft because if I do that for one student, I need to do it for all of them, and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. However, a student showing up with a draft sends the message that they are willing to put in the work with me, instead of asking me to do the work for them.
- Many students have friends or family members that they trust to read their writing. While this audience can be helpful—and my partner does this for me regularly—keep in mind that these readers are usually not members of the intended audience for the piece. They are not likely to be familiar with the assignment or the expectations, which means that you have to be cautious and critical as you consider their recommendations. In addition, these are people who care about you, and they may be more concerned about hurting your feelings than giving you constructive criticism.
When you have a choice about who to ask, choose wisely. If there is a tutor you work particularly well with, find out that tutor’s hours and sign up for their sessions. Find the classmate who asks good questions in class. Seek out your dorm mate down the hall who writes for the school newspaper.
We have all had the experience of working with someone who doesn’t do a good job. If you have ended up with one of those people, make sure you seek out other feedback. And if this happens in a class setting, don’t hesitate to let the professor know that you would rather not work with that person again, even if you think the professor already knows.
Identify at least two people who might be able to give you feedback on a writing project.
- Loca