This document provides instructions for a peer drafting workshop being held as part of an English course. It explains that the workshop will allow students to discuss their ideas and get feedback before their writing is complete, unlike peer review which focuses on editing after the fact. Students will be divided into small groups to share drafts and get feedback on things like idea generation and support. To get credit, students must actively participate in the discussions, provide a written record of their current progress, and submit a paragraph summarizing what was discussed after the workshop.

1. ENGL102 SP17 – C.J. Hill
Unit 3 Assignment Instructions
Peer Drafting Workshop
Writing is a collaborative, often vocal process. As strange as it may seem, writers cannot
stay quiet and reserved about their ideas in order to create the strongest possible piece;
rather, writers must discuss and workshop their work with other writers and thinkers to
fully flesh out their writing. The physical act of typing on a keyboard is only one part of
the writing process.
Because this course incorporates optional rough drafts, there cannot be any peer review
days. Instead, each course unit will allow time for peer drafting days. What’s the
difference?
Peer Review Peer Drafting
Focus on copyediting
Focus on making corrections
Writing is already largely complete
Students aren’t likely to continue writing
after peer review
Focus on idea generation
Focus on making new connections
Writing is still in process
Students will be in a place in the process
where feedback will be truly beneficial
Peer drafting workshop days will typically take place on a Wednesday and Friday of a
week. Half of the class will be assigned to attend on Wednesday, and the other half on
Friday. The students who attend each day will be divided into small groups, in which they
will share and discuss each student’s essay.
This assignment requires:
• Attendance on the assigned day
• Some form of written compilation of students’ progress on essay thus far (an outline,
notes on their topic, a thesis statement, etc.)
o This written compilation should be a hardcopy, no computer or smart phone
use will be tolerated during this activity
• Active participation and input on each discussed essay in terms of idea generation
and support. Ideally, each student will come in with a plan of what they want to
discuss during this activity
Assessment:
• This activity makes up one quarter of the unit’s participation points (12.5 points)
• The instructor will shadow each group to determine if active participation is
attained
• In order to receive full credit, type up and email your instructor a short (one
paragraph) transcript of what was discussed/achieved during this activity by 11:59
pm on your assigned day
Take-away:
• Students should leave their peer drafting workshop with written notes of what they
plan to continue working on with their essays based on peer feedback