Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

One of the more difficult tasks is reviewing something written by someone else and providing feedback that will help both the writer and the reader. Here are some things I learned from Jerry Weinberg.

In 2004, I attended a writing workshop led by author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. A large part of the workshop comprised providing feedback on what other attendees had written. Jerry led us through several exercises in feedback. Here are some of the pointers.

Start with,

I read your writing.

That one may seem too obvious, but it isn’t. When I was in graduate school my major professor often provided me with feedback on my dissertation. Further discussion revealed that he had not read my dissertation. He was merely providing comments because he felt obligated to do so.

Next,

Provide the type and amount of feedback the writer requests.

It is easy to assume what the writer “needs.” You can also waste a lot of time doing that – both yours and theirs.

Next,

Provide your reaction to what you read.

Use statements like, “I laughed when I read this,” or “I’m confused about what the topic was,” or “I struggled when I came to the second page.” Notice, I am providing my reaction to the writing. I am  not saying, “your writing was funny,” or “you’re writing is not understandable,” or “the second page stinks.”

Then there is the “I don’t understand” exercise.

1. Feedback provider: I don’t understand this paragraph. Do you mean X?
2. Writer: answers only YES or NO

If the writer answers NO three times in a row, the feedback provider then asks, “Please explain what you mean.”

Finally (well, this is the final comment for now), explain your expectations and where the writing didn’t take you. For example,

On the first page, I read that there are three steps to a process. I read the first step on the second page and went looking for the other two steps. I couldn’t find them and was disappointed because I really wanted to know what they were.

Finally (see I told you above that maybe that wasn’t the final comment), have a conversation. If the writer tells you something like,

well, the paper says that because of this other reason

ask

where in the paper is this other reason, I didn’t notice it

Perhaps the writer will point you to where it was or perhaps the writer will realize that he neglected to put those words in the paper.

Finally, just kidding, no more points in this post. I do, however reserve the right to provide more points in future posts.