PQP

Having your “peers” read your paper and give you feedback can be very valuable to improving your writing. The problem is that nobody wants to comment on a classmate’s paper. What do you say? How can you give useful feedback. Here’s a method that may help: PQP. Praise. Question. Polish.

Partners give each other copies of their papers. The writer reads the paper aloud, while the partner listens and reads along. After the writer is finished reading the paper, the listener tries to answer the following questions:

• Praise: What do you like best about this writing?

• Question: What questions do you have about this? Is anything unclear? Could anything be explained more?

• Polish: What tips can you give to help improve this writing?
  • Are there any incomplete sentences?
    • Any that start with “So” or “Because”?
  • Do subjects and verbs match?
  • Can any sentences be combined to make better “flow”?
    • Any that “sound rough”?
  • Any misspellings?

Listen carefully to what your peers have to say, then make any changes you think you should to improve your essay. Send that updated file to me and include in the title “Draft 2”.

Due by next Wednesday.