15e Reviewing and getting responses to your draft

15eReviewing and getting responses to your draft

Contents:

Reviewing your own draft

Outlining your draft

Seeking responses from peers

Because a research project involves a complex mix of your thoughts and materials from outside sources, it calls for an especially careful review. You should examine the draft yourself as well as seek the comments of other readers. Ask friends and classmates to read and respond to your draft, and get a response from your instructor if possible.

Reviewing your own draft

As with most kinds of writing, taking a break after drafting is important so that when you reread the draft, you can bring a fresh eye to the task. When you do return to the draft, read it straight through without stopping. Then read the draft again slowly, reconsidering your purpose, audience, stance, thesis, and support.

Answer these questions as best you can, since they are the starting point for revision. If you notice a problem but are unsure how to solve it, write down your concerns so that you can ask readers if they notice the same problem and have ideas about solving it.

Outlining your draft

You might find that outlining your draft (3f and 15b) helps you analyze it at this point: an outline will reveal the bare bones of your argument and help you see what may be missing or out of place. Here is the formal outline that David Craig prepared after drafting his research paper on instant messaging (32e).

Thesis statement: Messaging seems to be a beneficial force in the development of youth literacy because it promotes regular contact with words, the use of a written medium for communication, and the development of an alternative form of literacy.

  1. Decline of youth literacy—overview
    1. What many parents, librarians, educators believe
    2. Messaging as possible cause
      1. Definition of messaging
      2. Example of IM conversation
      3. Messaging as beneficial to youth literacy
  2. Two background issues
    1. Current state of literacy
      1. Decline in SAT scores
      2. Decline in writing ability
    2. Prevalence of messaging
      1. Statistics indicating widespread usage
      2. Instant messagers and texters using new vocabulary
  3. My field research to verify existence of messaging language
    1. Explanation of how research was done
    2. Results of research
      1. Four types of messaging language: phonetic replacements, acronyms, abbreviations, inanities
      2. Frequency of messaging language use
      3. Conclusions about vocabulary
  4. What critics of messaging say
    1. Many problems with student writing, such as incomplete sentences, grammar, and spelling
    2. Students using online abbreviations (smileys) in formal papers
  5. What linguists and other supporters of messaging say
    1. Traditional literacy not harmed by messaging
    2. Messaging indicative of advanced literacy
      1. Crystal’s explanation of metalinguistics and wordplay
      2. Human ability to write in many styles, messaging style being only one alternative
      3. Messaging helping students shift from language to language
  6. Other possible causes of decline in youth literacy
    1. Lower enrollment in English composition and grammar classes
    2. Messaging exposing literacy problems but not causing them

Seeking responses from peers

You should seek responses from friends and classmates as your draft evolves. Your reviewers will be best prepared to give you helpful advice and to ask questions specific to your project if they have background information about your writing task.

Tell your reviewers the purpose of your draft, the assignment’s criteria, and your target audience. Ask them to explain their understanding of your stance on the topic. Also ask for feedback on your thesis and its support. If you are unsure about whether to include a particular point, how to use a certain quotation, or where to add more examples, ask your reviewers specifically what they think you should do. You should also ask them to identify any parts of your draft that confuse them. Even if you are writing to a target audience with more expertise in the topic than your peer reviewers, you should carefully consider revising the parts they identify as confusing: you may be making too many assumptions about what concepts need to be explained. (For more on peer review, see 4b.)