Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 685, Getting Feedback on Writing.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 685.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you. and helps us keep this podcast audio free for everyone.
This episode is called Getting Feedback on Writing.
Getting someone's reaction to, comments on, and corrections on your writing.
Let's get started.
I just got my paper back from Professor Rodriguez, and it's all marked up.
Let me see.
It doesn't look too bad.
This is a draft, right?
His note at the top says to make revisions before handing in a final version.
He's trying to help you get a better grade.
Maybe, but there's nothing he likes about the essay.
Look at all of those comments in the margins.
He underlined the entire introduction and wrote run-on sentence next to it.
That's easy to fix.
And it is a run-on sentence, you know.
And in the body, he wrote that I had no transitions and that my arguments weren't well supported.
Well, transitions are easy to put in, and you just need to cite a few more sources.
That's all.
Yeah, but that's not all.
Next to the conclusion, he wrote that I didn't properly summarize my main points.
See what I mean?
There's nothing he likes about this essay.
I think you should take the constructive criticism as it's meant to help you.
It's easy for you to say.
You're done with college.
It's kind of demoralizing to get your paper back all marked up.
True, but you forget that I have my own battle wounds.
Lots of them.
Our dialogue begins with Zika saying to Lucas I just got my paper back from Professor Rodriguez and it's all marked up.
A paper in this case is something you would give to a teacher or professor in school some writing that you had to do, maybe an essay.
Zika has received her paper back from Professor Rodriguez.
She gave it to Professor Rodriguez and Rodriguez gave it back to her.
All marked up.
To be marked up means that it has been corrected, edited, perhaps changed.
Usually the teacher or professor will use a red pen and they will circle things and write things there and indicate how it needs to be corrected or changed.
Lucas says, let me see.
It doesn't look too bad.
This is a draft, right?
A draft is the first attempt or one of your first attempts to write a certain paper or document.
Usually the draft has to be changed, corrected, and reviewed.
So when someone says this paper is just a draft, they mean it still isn't perfect yet.
Lucas says that his meaning.
Professor Rodriguez's note at the top of the paper says to make revisions before handing in a final version.
Revisions are are changes to what you have written, changes to the paper or document to make it better.
To hand in means to give to, in this case, the professor.
Hand in is the phrasal verb we often use in school to talk about things that you are giving to the professor or the teacher as a student, but it also could be used in other circumstances.
Lucas says he, the professor, is trying to help you get a better grade, a better mark on your paper.
Zika says maybe, but there's nothing he likes about the essay.
Look at all of those comments in the margins.
Comments are, in this case, someone's opinion about something, or additional information that they want you to think about and perhaps use in making your revisions.
There are other meanings of the word comment, and those can be found in our learning guide.
A margin...
M-A-R-G-I-N.
When talking about a piece of paper, is the space at the top bottom, right or left sides of the page?
They are often white, but not always.
The margin is where you could write comments on someone's writing.
It's space that is not usually written in.
Margin has a couple of different meanings in English, and those, once again, can be found in our wonderful learning guide.
Zika says that the professor underlined the entire introduction and wrote quote run-on sentence unquote, next to it.
To underline is to draw a thin small line below the text, underneath the writing, and often to emphasize or point out something.
The introduction is the first part of the paper.
In this case, it was an essay.
The introduction usually tells you what the essay is going to be about.
Zika says that the professor underlined the entire introduction and wrote, Run-on sentence.
A run-on sentence is a sentence that is very long, often one that uses the word and or and or another conjunction too many times, so the sentence keeps going and going and going.
Usually a run-on sentence is one where you can put a period in.
You can break the sentence up and it will make more sense or read more easily.
A run-on sentence, in other words, is not something you want to have.
And that's what the professor is telling poor Zika.
Lucas says, that's easy to fix.
That's easy to correct.
And it is a run-on sentence, you know.
He's agreeing with the professor that Zika's first sentence, or the introduction, is a run-on sentence.
Zika then says And in the body he wrote that I had no transitions and that my arguments weren't well supported.
The body.
When we're talking about an essay, a document like this is the main part of the essay.
It's the main part of the document.
You have an introduction, a body and a conclusion, and So it's the longest typically part of the essay where you present the main points you are making and any evidence to support those points.
Zika says that in the body of her essay, the professor wrote that she had no transitions.
A transition.
In writing is a word or short phrase that we use between sentences or between paragraphs.
That make the writing smoother.
They help you go from one point to the next point.
So phrases like in addition and nevertheless, and however, these could all be transitional words or phrases.
Chika says that the professor told her she had no transitions and that her arguments weren't well supported.
Well-supported means that you have a lot of evidence or proof for what you are saying.
You are able to give facts that show that your conclusion is true.
Lucas says, well, transitions are easy to put in.
It's not difficult to put in the words and phrases so that the essay flows more smoothly.
You have phrases that take you from one part to the next.
He says you just need to cite a few more sources in order for the essay to be well supported.
Is what he means.
To cite C-I-T-E means to refer to typically another written document, maybe something in a book or a magazine that was said in order to support your own arguments.
It could be something that another expert said.
It could be Information that supports what you are trying to argue for.
So Lucas says that in order to have a well-supported argument...
Zika just needs to put in, just needs to write in, to cite a few more sources.
Source here is the book, the article, the interview where that particular piece of information comes from.
Zika says, yeah, but that's not all.
Next to the conclusion, He wrote that I didn't properly summarize my main points.
The conclusion is the last final part of an essay.
Remember we have the introduction, the body, and now the conclusion.
The conclusion of an essay usually summarizes your main points.
To summarize means to state the main ideas in a short form, very quickly using just a couple of sentences.
Zika says, see what I mean?
There's nothing he likes about this essay.
So the professor didn't like the introduction, he didn't like the body and he didn't like the conclusion.
Lucas says, Constructive criticism is is advice that is meant to help someone improve something by showing them what is wrong with what they're doing now.
It's constructive because you give it to the person in order to help them be better.
Of course, when you are criticizing someone, when you are telling them what they are doing wrong, they don't always consider that advice to be constructive, to be given to you in order to help you.
But Lucas says that's what Zika needs to do.
That's what the criticism is meant to do.
That's the purpose of it.
So Zika says it's easy for you to say.
That expression means that it's easy for another person to tell you what to do because they don't have to do it themselves.
Zika says you're done with college, meaning you're finished with college.
You are no longer in college at the university.
It's kind of demoralizing to get your paper back all marked up.
Demoralizing is something that is depressing, something that is frustrating, something that makes you feel like you're not very good and will never be very good at this action, this activity.
In Sheikah's case, writing an essay.
She found the professor's comments demoralizing.
Lucas says true, it can be demoralizing, but you forget that I have my own battle wounds, lots of them.
A battle is when two groups of people are fighting each other, perhaps two different countries.
A wound, W-O-U-N-D, is when you are hurt.
Perhaps you have been shot or you have been cut.
A battle wound then is some injury that you have received in a battle.
Lucas is using the expression here to mean that he has also received a lot of criticism.
He received difficult comments from professors when he was in school, so that he also knows what it is like to get these kinds of comments, and And that Zika's experience is not unique.
She's not the only one.
He also has gone through this experience.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I just got my paperback from Professor Rodriguez, and it's all marked up.
Let me see. doesn't look too bad.
This is a draft, right?
His note at the top says to make revisions before handing in a final version.
He's trying to help you get a better grade.
Maybe, but there's nothing he likes about the essay.
Look at all of those comments in the margins.
He underlined the entire introduction and wrote run-on sentence next to it.
That's easy to fix.
And it is a run-on sentence, you know.
And in the body, he wrote that I had no transitions and that my arguments weren't well supported.
Well, transitions are easy to put in, and you just need to cite a few more sources.
That's all.
Yeah, but that's not all.
Next to the conclusion, he wrote that I didn't properly summarize my main points.
See what I mean?
There's nothing he likes about this essay.
I think you should take the constructive criticism as it's meant, to help you.
It's easy for you to say, you're done with college.
It's kind of demoralizing to get your paperback all marked up.
True, but you forget that I have my own battle wounds.
Lots of them.
Everything our scriptwriter says is well supported.
That's because it's written by Dr. Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again sometime here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
