by Lane Smith

As an undergraduate, I felt that many writing assignments were not fully developed as a teaching tool. I mean that often, after I wrote a paper and submitted it for a grade, I never received helpful and meaningful feedback or sometimes not at all. The kind of feedback I received was both vague and ultimately unhelpful or did not push me to think critically about my own writing. On top of this, comments from professors could come across as rude and demeaning, which did not help my confidence when drafting ideas. This, to me, seemed problematic. Why would a professor assign a paper without providing clear, thoughtful, and helpful feedback? It seems that sometimes professors come across as disconnected from and not engaged in their students’ wants and needs. Problems of disengagement and of disconnection are self-serving and self-sustaining, leading to a pattern of poor papers, unhelpful feedback, and disengaged students. It is our job as writing coaches to break this cycle to help students improve their writing and see its value.

Being only a few short months removed from undergrad, I (hopefully not in vain) feel that I am able to connect with students with respect to their writing. Too fresh in my memory are the frustrations of my undergraduate career: the short, vague, unhelpful comments or the lack thereof. Now, as a graduate student and writing coach, I do not want my current students to feel this way or question my commitment to their education. The question of ensuring this remains; how do I encourage students to write and provide meaningful feedback? This question, I believe, can be answered by another question: what kind of comments would I be most receptive to if I were the student?

Before I can answer this, there are a few things to consider. Chief among them is an understanding that writing is a very personal undertaking. Second, writing and opinions of good writing are subjective. Therefore, it should never be seen as appropriate to respond to a student with rude language. It is important to encourage students to develop their ideas and build their papers without fear of off-putting remarks. Furthermore, I have found it useful to frame all of my comments based on my personal reading of each paper. This helps my students understand that perhaps their ideas are not wrong but rather unclear for readers. I have found that commenting in this way shows that you are reading their papers carefully and thoroughly.

Additionally, I believe it is important to not brutalize a paper with my comments. When I was an undergraduate and I received papers covered in my professor’s comments, it caused me to focus on what I did wrong and not what I did correctly. Even more so, I found that I concentrated on what the teacher suggested I correct and not the reasons for the correction. Therefore, when I respond to a student’s paper, I am sure to do a couple of things: offer words of encouragement, respond to a paper based on my personal reading in which I can justify my criticism, and limit my comments to the most important issues per draft.

To conclude each reading, I write each student a one-page review of his or her paper. This review outlines the positives and negatives of their work and ways that they can improve their paper. However, instead of falling into the trap of providing answers, I try to explain the problems of each draft in hopes students will revise the papers accordingly. The goal for me is to get students to think about their writing and writing in general as a learning tool, both for the topic they are researching and for the sake of articulating clear points and arguments.

I cannot forget my experiences as an undergrad and disregard them; instead I think remembering and reflecting on my undergraduate years help me relate to my students today. I want to be as helpful as possible, and I think showing genuine interest and engagement in student work is paramount. I hope that if I show that I care, the students will as well.