{"id":323,"date":"2024-02-29T06:19:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T06:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/wp-cadw\/?p=323"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:15:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T18:15:54","slug":"commenting-on-student-writing-insights-from-classic-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/wp-cadw\/2024\/02\/29\/commenting-on-student-writing-insights-from-classic-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Commenting on Student Writing (1): Insights from Classic Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commenting on student papers is arguably one of the most time-consuming parts of teaching writing, and can feel particularly daunting to new faculty. Where to start? What to prioritize? Are students even reading our comments? Yet, research suggests that giving feedback can be the most important part of our work for a variety of reasons\u2014 the learning through revision we inspire, the growth we foster over a longer path, a meaningful exchange that can shape student attitudes about writing for the rest of their lives. Nancy Sommers, a foundational researcher in this area, asks us to remember how we ourselves were shaped by comments on our writing, and even how \u201cwords teachers scribbled on our papers, inscribed in memory, are often the same words we write in the margins or at the bottom of our own students’ pages\u201d (2006, p. 248).<\/p>\n

This is the first post in a series devoted to paper comments: how students perceive them, best practices for writing them, what inspires substantive revision, and more, all drawing from influential research in composition studies. Let\u2019s start with a few classics, excerpted here as key findings and suggested best practices.<\/p>\n

Students tend to…<\/strong><\/p>\n