Responding to Student Writing - A Sample Commenting Protocol

Ideally, instructor comments should provide directive, thorough, but
also focused advice to students regarding the strengths and weaknesses
of their essays, and the means to improve them. The following protocol
offers one approach to achieving these goals. It takes a “less is
more” approach by identifying a few key elements (strengths and
weaknesses) in an essay and structuring a head comment and marginal comment
to highlight only those features.  This approach is consistent with
research that suggests students often become confused and overwhelmed
when well-intentioned instructors try to “cover” everything,
and also when they don’t fully explain why something is effective
or correct or not or model ways of improving.

1. Read the essay through once, without marking it.  It can be helpful
   to take a few notes while you read.
2. After you’ve done this, identify the two or three most important “higher
   order” things the student needs to work on within the parameters
   of the learning objectives of this particular assignment.
    
   [Note: “higher order” concerns may include
   aspects of course content, conceptual understanding, argument, complexity,
   analysis, use of evidence, development of ideas, organization, understanding
   of audience, and sometimes diction and tone.]
3. Construct a head comment that does the following: 1) offers a brief
   but specific summation of general strengths, and 2) explains the two
   or three things to work on in a way that frames your remarks in terms
   of techniques and strategies to improve for subsequent drafts and assignments
   (e.g., “you’ve done an excellent job of…, but two
   central things to continue to work on are…”).  This
   comment will probably be fairly detailed in presenting and discussing
   these two or three focus areas.  It may be helpful to think of
   this head comment as a kind of “roadmap” to the marginal
   comments you will insert. 
4. Finally, go back through the paper and, writing in full sentences,
   insert selective marginal comments and/or praise to reinforce and exemplify
   your head comment (e.g., “This point is unclear because…” or “You
   do a nice job here of…”).  Give explanation and/or
   examples when you note both areas to improve and areas of strength.

   It’s fine if the marginal comments reiterate points made in the
   head comment; indeed, they might specifically reference a moment in the
   head comment as a way of reinforcing it (“As I noted in my opening
   comment, here is a place where…”).  Since your head
   comment will be fairly detailed, you will probably need relatively fewer
   marginal comments to highlight the relevant examples.

5. If you wish, additionally, to comment on “lower order” concerns (e.g.,
   style, grammar, and/or punctuation), please focus on just one or two patterns
   encountered throughout the essay, explain these in a separate paragraph of your
   head comment, and mark up only a single representative paragraph in the essay
   to model corrections.

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