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“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”
– Yehuda Berg
Why Writers Need Feedback
Feedback on written work has proven its unequivocal importance for all writers. Efficient feedback provides a writer with an objective evaluation of his or her work. If provided correctly, it can grant the writer an assessment of his or her own strengths and weaknesses.
Peer feedback is exchanged between students by means of peer response, editing, critiquing, and evaluation. We experience this from time to time as a requirement of our courses, where our professor assigns us a partner to review their work and give them feedback. Sometimes we find that the feedback is helpful, but more often than not we experience our partners just throwing in random feedback to accomplish the assignment.
We sometimes have the same impression toward our professor’s feedback— we find it too long, too confusing, or too hypercritical! I have had my fair share of rude educators over the course of my lifetime, but I believe some simply do not have not perfected the art of providing feedback.
An Understanding of Writers’ Frustrations
For students, feedback may be less than stellar. You may or may not implement what has been written in reflection of your work. However, for writers, feedback is a fundamental part of the writing process—it can guide us our of our frustrations and help us see as other writer’s might see our work.
I recently conducted an interview with one of my Writing Center tutees who spoke before about her frustrations with her professor’s means of giving her feedback. In our tutorial, we looked over the comments that expanded over the course of pages when the assignment itself was only two.
I felt her frustrations and I, as a tutor and blogger, saw it as my opportunity to shed light on the issue of poor feedback. Thus, I decided to interview her to shed some light on what students experience with poor feedback. Check it out below:
A Guide For Providing Good Feedback For Fellow Students & Writers
The best way to understand good feedback is to learn some strategies for knowing how to provide it yourself. As promised in my interview with Ms. Colgrove, here are some ideas to help you the next time you are required or asked to give feedback. AND, be sure to share it with your friends or (if you’re daring enough) your professors to help them understand your needs as a writer and a student:
- Be fair and honest in your comments — Think about the writer when he or she is reviewing your words. Try to envision the writer if you are speaking directly to him or her. Tell it like it is, but be generous with words the way you would in normal conversation.
- Don’t focus on grammar and spelling the whole time — Don’t stop to comment for every grammar and/or spelling issue you come across. For this, you could early-on use comments like, “be sure to double check small issues or grammar” or “online programs like Grammarly work wonders!”
- Share as much positive feedback as possible — Don’t stick to just sharing the things you do not like or wish to change about a writer’s work. This only proves detrimental to the writer’s self esteem. Stop every now and then to say, “Hey, I really like how you…” or “What an interesting concept here!” But be honest with the positiveness.
- Refrain from interjecting your own biases/opinions/emotions — Sometimes a writer may ask you for particular feedback about the ideas he or she is bringing to the table. However, sometimes a writer is not asking for a dismissal of what is written. If you are unsure your objective for feedback, talk with the writer first. Offer words that can be constructive, but don’t argue in the comments for all the points you disagree with. Remember, what you are reading is the writer’s work, not your own. (P.S. Do state if there are inaccuracies or incorrect information that is being presented as fact. Or, if there is instances of hatred, bigotry, or words that condone hatred toward somebody else.)
- Do not overload the page with comments — A writer takes into consideration your “words of wisdom,” however, be conscientious of the writer’s time and energy. If you include a whole bunch of comments that suggest drastic change and then continue to push for grammatical issues, you are doing nothing but stressing out the writer. For major revisions, consider talking over your ideas with the writer in person (maybe even video feedback of you explaining areas that could be improved or elaborated on).
The Writer's Desk 
Hi, Dr. O here. Great job! This was an excellent first post. I’m invested in the blog and the subject.…