TEACHING TIPS – Use comment bubbles for self-evaluation

CATEGORIES: TEACHING DIGITAL WRITING

Common Teaching Issue:

Students sometimes don’t follow writing advice

Every writing instructor knows the frustration of reading a student’s final paper and realizing that the student has not incorporated the changes he or she went to great pains to advise the student to make. Or of realizing that the student has not followed the advice provided in class lectures or reading materials.

My solution

I ask students to use the comment tool in Microsoft Word (or Google Docs) to call my attention to sections in their final papers where they’ve revised in response to my feedback and to peer feedback.

I also ask them to use the comment tool to call my attention to areas where they’ve made use of the general writing advice and rhetorical strategies we’ve gone over in class and/or in readings. I might even ask them to specifically identify where they employed certain types of rhetorical appeals or used certain types of evidence and to explain their rationale in the comment bubble.

Word comment bubble

Benefits

  • The “cuteness” of the comment bubbles inspires students to write more than they ever did when I used to ask them to do this kind of self-evaluation by writing in the margins of their printed papers
  • Students pay more attention to my feedback and peer feedback, as well as to the strategies we go over in class and in readings, because they know they’ll have to identify where they followed them
  • If a student can’t identify or explain particular strategy, the student knows he or she either needs to revise or to review course materials to better understand the strategy

How-To

In Microsoft Word, first activate the review tools. Then select a word or phrase and use the “Insert Comment” button to create a comment bubble in the margin. (This is NOT the same thing as “track changes,” which I typically turn off as it’s for copyediting only.)

This handout provides resources on using the review tools in Microsoft Word: Guides to using Word’s review tools.

In Google Docs, select a word or phrase and then choose “Comment” from the Insert menu within Google Docs.

Google Docs insert comment