Reflection on Project 1 Draft

In this blog post, I will assess the comments on my first draft of the QRG, using the list of questions found on pg. 66 of A Student's Guide to First-Year Writing. I reviewed two of my peers' drafts, including Rachel's and Anne Emilie's, and left comments with my suggestions and revisions.

The two who peer-reviewed my own work were Rachel and Addie. They did an excellent job, and added comments to suggest revisions of both global and local revisions. Their insight helped me out tremendously.


Audience Questions:

• Who, specifically, is going to be reading this document? Who am I trying to reach with my argument?
• My professor and peers are going to serve as my main audience. I am not necessarily trying to change my reader's opinions regarding the controversy, but rather provide an unbiased explanation.

• What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
• My audience values clarity and information; they expect a contextual piece of literature that informs, not persuades. 
• I think I am adequately meeting these expectations, because I provide a background to the controversy and I do not overtly express my opinion of the matter.
• I plan on revising and editing my QRG to provide slightly more information on groups like PARCC and some statistics that are important to consider, so as to give my audience more insight into the controversy.

• How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
• Although this is a genre based on information and context, I do not need to overload my audience with facts and statistics. I need to present the issue and how it began, but for something like Common Core, a popular topic, I do not need to over-do it on the summary. 

• What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
• The QRG's are normally relaxed, however, correct grammar and word choice are necessary. It is a professional document, but it is not a stereotypical formal essay either. There is definitely a balance between informality and formality, and I hope that I achieved this in my work. 
• I tried hard not to use words like "I" or "you," as that sets up an informal relationship between the reader and the author. 
• I need to triple-check to see if I ended up using any of these words in my QRG.

• What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
• I should use an informative tone, but also be able to add my own voice and personality, correctly. I hoped that my tone conveyed that I was knowledgeable on the topic, but not boring or uninteresting. 
• I think I used this tone consistently in my draft, because I tried to incorporate my own voice through word choice or sentence structure, while also staying professional.

Context Questions:

• What are the formatting requirements of this assignment? Do I meet these?
• The formatting requirements include:
• concise and short paragraphs
• use of visuals and media sources
• use of subheadings
• a lot of empty or white space within paragraphs
• I do meet these requirements in my QRG draft. My recent experience with blog posts and the conventions for that genre came in handy for the QRG format.

• What are the content requirements for the assignment? Do I meet these?
• background into controversy
• description of groups involved
• reason why people are upset (why it is a controversy)
• quotes regarding what people are saying on all sides of argument
• how people are sharing/publicizing their opinions (social media, online news sources, scholarly journals?)
• description of facts vs. opinions
• explanation of credibility or lack of for each source
• I think I meet these requirements, primarily because I went through this list while writing my draft and used this as a reference point on what I should include next. 
• These requirements also served as my sub-headers, or at least some of them did, to give the reader an insight on what the paragraph is about. 
• I plan on rereading (again) the Project #1 Breakdown and rubric to see if I have covered all of the content requirements.

• Does my draft reflect knowledge or skills gained in class in addition to my own ideas and voice? 
• Yes, my draft both reflects the things that we have discussed in class and my own ideas.
• In class, we discussed the conventions of a QRG, the wide variety of sources that should be included, and the content requirements.
• I added my own personal voice by choosing specific words or sentence structures, presenting sources in unique ways, and carefully choosing the information that I wanted my readers to know about the controversy.

• Have I addressed any grammatical issues that my teacher highlighted in class or in my previously-graded assignments?
• Yes, I have addressed any issues, whether it was related to grammar or content, that may have been highlighted in previously-graded assignments. 
• These include:
• appropriate use of hyperlinks
• concise and clear introductions
• use of white space and paragraph breaks

--Jenny Bello