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 outline for your Recommendation Report that tells your peer review readers about your outline and asks any questions that you have about it. After adding your cover page, submit the current outline 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.

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?
• From Markel & Selber
  • “Organizing and Outlining Your Document,” on page 49 in Chapter 3.
  • Chapter 7, “Organizing Your Information”
    Consider which organizational structures will help you in specific sections of your report.
  • Chapter 18, “Writing Recommendation Reports”
    In particular, consult the sample recommendation report to understand how the sections of the report connect.
    
• From LinkedIn Learning:
  • The video course “Organizing an Outline” (46m).
  • The videos “The importance of planning” (4m 46s) and “Develop a final outline” (6m 13s).

When to Do It

• Firm Draft Due Date: Post your draft by 11:59 PM on Friday, April 8, 2022. This firm deadline is necessary for Canvas to assign peer review pairs automatically. If you need more time, you can try the Second-Chance Report Outline Feedback Discussion.
• Peer Review Partners Assigned: At 12:00 AM on Saturday, April 9, 2022, Canvas automatically assigns two partners to each person who submits a draft.
• Peer Review Due Date: Post your feedback to classmates by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

How You Do It

1. Complete as much of your outline as you can before the feedback discussion due date. Your readers do not expect a finished document, but the more of your outline you share, the more feedback you can get.
2. Open the word processor document where you are working on your outline.
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 outline 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 outline.
   3. Answer at least two of the following questions to tell your classmates how they can help you. Copy the questions you choose into your cover letter and then answering them:
      TIP: Make your questions and answers easy for classmates 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?
      • As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon, and why?
      • What kind 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.
      • If there is some other question you wish I had listed but didn’t, use your question.
   4. Add any final thought in a last paragraph, and close your letter.
8. Reread your cover letter to make sure it is clear and easy to understand. Revise if necessary.
9. Check your cover letter and revise if it is longer than one page long. This is only the length of the cover letter.
10. Use a new filename to save your draft for peer review, since you do not need the cover letter in your working draft.
11. Upload your outline with the cover letter to this discussion for feedback.
12. After peer review partners are assigned (see “When to Do It” section above), give feedback to your partners following the process below:
    1. Find peer review assignments in the To Do list on the course Home page and at the top of the Discussion itself.
    2. Read through your partner’s draft and cover letter.
    3. Add a general comment in the right sidebar.
    4. Click the Show Rubric link at the top right to access the feedback rubric.
    5. Complete the rubric to provide specific suggestions to your partner.
    6. Save your responses in the Rubric.
    7. Repeat the process for your second peer review partner.

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.