What You Will Learn and Practice

• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]

What I Want You to Do

Add a cover letter to the working draft of your research description. In your letter, tell your peer review readers about your draft and ask any questions that you have about it. After adding your cover page, submit the current draft for feedback. After peer review partners are assigned, read drafts from your classmates and offer feedback on how to revise.

Why I Want You to Do It

You will give feedback and get feedback from others in your class on the work you are doing. These activities focus on how to give and take advice that will improve your writing. There are two situations people may complete this activity:

• The writer needed more time, so they couldn’t participate in the first peer review.
• The writer participated in the first peer review, but they want additional feedback on the revisions they have made.

Where You Can Find Help

• Help with Canvas:
  • How do I like a reply in a course discussion as a student?
  • How do I attach a file to a discussion reply as a student?
  • How do I embed an image in a discussion reply as a student?
  • How do I link to a YouTube video in a discussion reply as a student?
  • How do I know if I have a peer review discussion to complete?
  • How do I submit a peer review to a discussion?
  • Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
• Markel & Selber, Chapter 18, “Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions,” pp. 561–569
• From Course Webpages, Research Description Criteria
• From the Course Manual on Assessment, Summative Assessment, and Formative Assessment.

When to Do It

• Firm Draft Due Dates: Post your draft by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. This firm deadline is necessary for Canvas to assign peer review pairs automatically.
• Peer Review Feedback: Post your feedback to classmates by 11:59 PM on Monday, September 27, 2021.

How You Do It

1. Complete as much of your draft as you can before the second-chance feedback discussion due date. It is unlikely that your research will be complete, but you can describe as much of your process as you have completed.
2. Open the word processor document where you are working on your Instructions (or create a separate file and skip to step 7).
3. Scroll to the top of the document, placing your cursor at the beginning.
4. Add a few blank lines with the ENTER key.
5. Insert a page break, so that the text of your Instructions begins on the next page.
   • CTRL + ENTER usually creates a page break.
   • Insert a page break in Word (Microsoft documentation)
   • Work with links, bookmarks, section breaks, or page breaks (Google documentation)
6. Scroll back to the top of the document, the beginning of the blank page.
7. Write a cover letter (one page or less) that includes the following information:
   1. Greet your reader—you won’t know the names of the people, so use a general greeting.
   2. Tell your reader any general information that you want them to know about your text.
   3. Answer at least three of the following questions, copying them into your cover letter and then answering them:
      TIP: Make your questions and answers easy for the peer reviewer to find. Make the question bold, and then answer it in plain text.
      • What is your favorite part of this draft, and why?
      • What did you find difficult about this draft, and why?
      • What part of this draft demonstrates your very best work, and why?
      • What weaknesses are in this draft? What kind of advice would you like about them?
      • What techniques have you tried that differed from your regular process?
      • How does this piece compare to other pieces you have written?
      • What really worked in this piece? Why did it seem to work well?
      • What will you change in the next revision of this piece, and why?
      • As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon, and why?
      • What kinds of comments will most help you in the revision process? Is there a section or particular issue readers should focus on as they read and comment on your essay? If so, please share.
   4. Add any final thought in a last paragraph, and close your letter.
8. Check your cover letter and revise if it is longer than one page long. This is only the length of the cover letter.
9. Use a new filename to save your draft for peer review, since you do not need the cover letter in your working draft.
10. Upload your draft with the cover letter to this discussion for feedback.

How to Assess and Track Your Work

You track and grade your own work in this course. Be sure to complete the following tasks:

• Track your work in your Weekly Work Log.
• Check for peer review feedback from your classmates using the instructions from Canvas, Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
• Watch for feedback comments from me—find feedback in annotations and comments on your submissions in Canvas.

Work is always marked as either 1 for Complete or 0 for Incomplete:

• I will mark this activity Complete in Canvas Grades, usually within 24–48 hours after the end of the grace period.
• I will mark this activity Incomplete in Canvas Grades if you do not submit your draft or peer feedback to your partners by the end of the grace period.