After successfully completing this week's Learning Module, you should:

• Review the assignment sheet, checklist, and scoring rubric to ensure that all parts of the essay assignment have been completed

• Post a full draft of Essay #4 to the Discussions forum in Canvas for peer review and then complete reply comments for two drafts by the deadline

• Apply techniques for effective revision, editing, and proofreading

• Turn in Essay #4 by sharing a document from Word or Google with "Can Edit"/"Editor" permissions and complete the Process Portfolio in Canvas by the due date using the Assignments tool

This week you'll work to improve your own draft and help someone else improve their draft with peer review. That means the most important thing you'll do is to post your draft and comment on two others following the calendar due dates. Someone else is counting on you, so don't let them down. 

Remember, this is our last essay assignment, and this week is our last Learning Module. Make sure you review the gradebook in Canvas and look at each week to verify that you're not missing anything. If you see something missing, start by checking that it hasn't been turned in and is just waiting for a grade (most common with late work submitted recently). If it turns out you are missing something and can't figure out what it is, go back to the matching week in this Learning Module site and look for the assignment instructions. If you find something still isn't completed make sure you email/text your professor for help now, not on December 15th when the course closes. 

I also want to remind you one last time that the RCC Learning Center is an amazing resource, and they have a lot of experience helping students with writing courses. Even though we're not on campus, remember that they can work with you online. If you don't do that to improve your own grade on Essay #4, do it because you get +1% extra credit added to your course grade each time you get help (max of 5%) and send your professor some kind of evidence (like a confirmation email or screenshot). If you have extra credit to submit from earlier in this semester just remember that it should be sent to your professor by the December 15th last chance deadline. 

Finally, let me recognize the hard work you've done to finish our class and continue making progress toward your degree. If you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed at this point, email/text questions or schedule yourself for an individual conference (worth +50 bonus points in our class) to talk with your professor using this link: https://calendly.com/jbreitenfeldt. 

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You can see a video walkthrough of this week's assignments and where to submit them here.

If you're feeling a little behind on the current assignment, make sure you take some time to lock back at the previous Learning Modules to refresh your memory for making sure the key parts (like exigence, background, the naysayer) are present, seeing how to use sources to support your debatable statements and borrowed words/ideas to avoid plagiarism, and adding MLA in-text and Works Cited page citations. You'll also see advice on how to avoid common errors like using second person (you/your), reminders about following MLA page format 100%, and how to develop titles that show a clear subject/kind of writing. 

Review: Assignment Sheet and Scoring Rubric

I know you've looked at these things before, but I want to encourage you to always recheck the assignment sheet when you've completed an assignment. You should also review the Essay #4 checklist to make sure you haven't missed anything. And finally, it's a good idea to check the scoring rubric to make sure that you've done everything the best you can. 

As you look at the assignment sheet specifically, make sure you pay special attention to the length range. You can be +/- 10% and not lose points, but anything below 1,350 words or above 2,200 words should be revised by adding/cutting. Your professor can help with this, but the key is to not have any words that aren't essential since good writing is efficient. That is, good writing needs to express big ideas simply in the fewest words possible. 

Activity: Peer Review

Now that we've spent some time reviewing how to improve your essay draft (more detail can be found in last week's module) it's time to start the peer review process. Peer review is your opportunity to get feedback on your essay draft as well as see how other students approached the same task.

One of the biggest challenges when we write is that we don't know how readers will react or where they might get confused. This is especially important when we translate something written for a broad non-expert audience to match the more formal academic essays you'll write in college. The way we get around this is to have someone else read and give us feedback. 

Uploading Your Draft for Peer Comments

The first step, as you might expect, is to post your draft. This shouldn't be any harder than making a regular Discussions forum post, which is something you've already done for this class. The only difference is that when you make your post you need to attach a file for your essay. The big thing here is that you need to use a file type everyone can open--either .docx (Word) or PDF or a link shared from Word 365/Google Docs. Alternatively, you can share a link from Google Docs or Word online, but make sure you don't allow edit access. I can help with this if you're not sure how to save/export (or see this tutorial for Google Docs or this one for Word 365) or share the draft with a link. You can also (and probably should) use the text box for your post to tell readers what you're concerned about or point to anything where you'd like their opinion on the draft. 

Finding a Draft to Comment on and Making Comments

Once you've posted your draft you can look for other drafts to comment on. Of course, the kind of feedback you give makes a huge difference. I think that sometimes bad comments, ones that are too demanding ("you did this wrong") or completely checked out ("good"), come from not having the right attitude about the paper you're reviewing. My suggestion is to think of it like it's your paper and use your understanding of the assignment to help the writer do better. In addition to those kinds of comments, the ones that make suggestions or point to areas that might need another look, spend some time just describing what you're thinking as a reader. I mean, tell them where you're confused or where you're not sure what something means. Finally, tell the writer when you really like something; just don't write "good" at the end and move on--be specific. And if you get stuck and don't know what to say, try using these questions or the essay checklist I provided earlier in this module to guide your input. 

Also, make sure when you take a draft to review that it doesn't already have two reviews posted and consider posting in the Discussions thread that you're working on comments for this essay so others know it's taken. When you get a draft to work on you'll want to either insert comments or type using a different color font (the person will need to be able to see your comments); or you could also type them in the forum post, but it can be harder to know where you're talking about something. Here's a tutorial for making comments Microsoft Word and one for Google Docs which is the best way to do this task. 

No matter what method you use, your comments need to be something the other person can include as part of their answer in the Process Portfolio assignment that's also due on December 15th with your essay. When you're done--ideally a few comments per page, though the more you have the more you help--save the file with a new name so they know it's the version where you made your suggestions and/or leave a comment to let them know you're done.   

Uploading the Draft with Your Comments

After you've saved the file containing your comments with a different name you need to go back to the Canvas Discussions forum where you originally got the essay. Then you need to find the post with the original essay and reply by attaching the file with your comments or leaving a comment on the share link letting them know you're done. You can also type some notes to the author here if you want to offer other advice or encouragement. 

The entire process can be broken down like this:

1. Find a draft in the peer review Discussions forum that doesn't already have two sets of comments from peers. Download the file or click the shared link.

2. Open the essay and make comments with suggestions using the insert comment feature or by typing in a different color. Save the essay with your comments using a different file name. Note: if you're working with a shared link do not change their text. 

3. Go back to the original location where you found the essay. Reply to the post and/or attach your file with comments. Repeat steps 2 and 3, meaning you'll reply to two drafts total.  

This assignment can be challenging even if you've done it a few times this semester, so be patient, and ask questions.

Review: Editing and Revision, and Proofreading, Oh My! 

Let me take a quick second, one last time, to review some terminology you'll need for this class and for other classes you take; knowing these terms also means you'll separate the different tasks and do each one rather than lumping them all together and potentially missing something important. 

Editing

As the UNC Writing Center explains, "Editing is what you begin doing as soon as you finish your first draft. You reread your draft to see, for example, whether the paper is well-organized, the transitions between paragraphs are smooth, and your evidence really backs up your argument." That means you're looking at big stuff, including decisions to add, move, or cut to make the essay more effective. 

Revision

In contrast, the UNC Writing Center states that revision "literally means to 'see again,' to look at something from a fresh, critical perspective. It is an ongoing process of rethinking the paper: reconsidering your arguments, reviewing your evidence, refining your purpose, reorganizing your presentation, reviving stale prose. As they explain it, this means asking a) whether what you're saying is necessary, b) whether it says what you really meant to say, and c) whether a reader will understand you. This has some overlap with editing, but it happens later in the process--closer to when the assignment is due.

Proofreading

The UNC Writing Center explains that the last stage, the one after you've finished editing and revision, is proof reading. They state that this means "focusing on surface errors such as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation." The reason this comes last is because it's not as important as getting the argument in good shape. Also, it's a bit of a waste to focus on fixing the small grammar stuff if there are other big issues that still need to be worked out. 

The bottom line: make sure you're doing all three of these and spreading them across the writing process to be sure you submit your best work. 

To review and learn more about how to do each task well, consider reviewing these handouts:

"Revising Drafts" from the UNC Writing Center

"Editing and Proofreading" from the UNC Writing Center

Essay #4 and Process Portfolio Submission

Remember, there are two assignments due by midnight on Sunday, December 15th--and no assignments can be accepted after this deadline.  

Essay #4

When you've finished working on your final research essay and are ready to turn it in, follow these steps (also shown in this week's walkthrough video at the top of the page):

1. Find your essay in Word or Google Docs. 

2. Click the "Share" button at the top-right of your screen. Enter your professor's email address (jbreitenfeldt@rcc.mass.edu) and change the permissions to "Can Edit" or "Editor" to make sure I'm able to offer comments.  

3. Your professor will reply within 24-48 hours to let you know your essay has been received; if you don't receive confirmation make sure you follow up to get the assignment submitted. Note: if no assignment is received you'll also be able to see a 0 in the Canvas gradebook; just know that late work is still accepted until the last day of class. 

If you have a problem sharing your essay you should email your professor to talk about how you can submit the assignment. 

When the essay gets graded (usually 1-3 weeks) you'll get an email to let you know your work has been returned. This will also let you see the essay with my very detailed comments and the scoring rubric with specific points and additional notes to explain scores.  I recommend reviewing both so that you can have personalized advice for improving your writing before the next essay is due.

Process Portfolio III

Hopefully you kept track of the Process Portfolio assignment (something introduced in Week 2 and in the course syllabus). It requires you to answer questions about your writing process for this essay using a textbox in Canvas.

This might all sound like a lot on top of completing your essay, but it should be mostly explaining the things you're already doing with enough detail. Moreover, it's designed to help your grade. For each of the four required questions you get 6.25 points just for a complete and thoughtful answer; giving some time and attention to all four parts would be 25/25 (100%) for this assignment, and there aren't many assignments where 100% can be expected. And on top of that, you're not graded here for your grammar or anything else; it's just how much you say to answer the question. 

Finally, remember that late work can only be accepted until December 15th. As the syllabus explains, there is no late work deduction. The key is to remember that your goal should be to submit any missing assignments as soon as possible so you don't find yourself unable to catch up. Your professor can help.

Essay #4 Materials

Essay #4 Assignment Sheet

Essay #4 Scoring Rubric

Essay #4 Checklist

Essay #4 Student Sample

Process Portfolios Assignment Sheet

MLA Sample Paper from the Purdue OWL

"MLA Quick Guide" from Appalachian State University