Who would ever guess that in an act so simple as responding to your peers, you could tell so much about a person. Responding is often a personal way of connecting to your peers and colleagues. It’s something so simple that many writers tend to overlook but at the same time I think it is something that can be really beneficial to reflect upon. Now that I have skillfully reflected on my response style, I have learned much more about myself and my writing tendencies. After carefully reviewing my response style illustrated in my peer responses to my Jarvis Leadership classmates and Junius H Rose High School writing partners, on their blogs and Google sites during the months of September, October, and November 2012, I have determined that I am both an encouraging and personal peer responder, and that I also attempt to connect with my readers through clarification and specification, because this is how I like to be responded to.
The journey of discovering my own unique response style began by looking back through my history as a peer responder. Luckily enough for me, I had followed the instructions of my professor in correctly categorizing each of my peer responses as I went through the semester. This made it especially easy to locate my sources. All I needed to do was click on the Peer Response Archive category on my WordPress blog and all of my peer responses came up neatly organized with one another. Next I copied all of my peer responses outlined on the page into a Wordle which in turn generated a word cloud that helped me to better understand the commonalities in my responses to my peers. The next thing that I needed to do to successfully assess my response style was to begin the process of coding. Coding involves the precise process of going back through your past responses and placing each sentence or group of text into its own label. For instance, some of the labels I used were Clarity/ Specificity, Goodwill/ Encouragement, and Asking Questions. For each label I assigned a different color code in which I applied to any portion of text in my responses I deemed fit correctly in that particular category. For instance, if I saw any response in which I gave someone praise for his or her work, I would code it as the color green, which corresponds to the response category Goodwill/Encouragement. The process of coding took me a while to complete but when I was finished and analyzed my results, there were some obvious overarching patterns in my response style. I noticed that the most common colors in my coded response archive were green, blue, and orange. Those colors directly affect my style as a peer responder. Green, as mentioned earlier, corresponds to the Goodwill/Encouragement response style, Blue corresponds to the use of I-statements, and orange corresponds to the category Clarity/Specificity.
There is no doubt whatsoever that I am a very encouraging peer responder. While responding to my classmates and writing partners, I tend to give them as much praise as possible to let them know what they are doing right. If I see something that I think is great then I will not hesitate to tell that person that I like what I am seeing in there work. Take one of my first responses to my classmate Travis Zira for example. Even the first time viewing his work, I knew that Travis was an excellent writer. So one of the comments I made in response to one of his posts stated, “You appear to have a very well developed writing style.” That is just one example of how I use goodwill in my responses however the list goes on. Another instance that shows how I tell my peers that I like something in their work can be found in my response to my classmate Jonathan Peek’s battle scar story. I thought that Jonathan Peek had a very interesting and unique battle scar story. The delivery he used in his story however, was what made it even more interesting. So when I decided to respond to his work I was sure to point that out, saying things like “I like how you explained how ordinary the situation was before everything happened” and “The way you talked in your paper really drew me in to the story.” I think the reason why I incorporate so much goodwill and encouragement into my responses is because I believe that motivation is powerful. Often times motivation can be just what I writer needs to keep them going. Natalie DeCheck refers to the style of motivation that I incorporate in my writing as extrinsic motivation, or motivation that “takes place when the writer is motivated by someone or something” (32). I think this is such an easy thing to incorporate in your response and it undoubtedly makes a lasting impact on those you are responding to. Goodwill can really compel some writers, such as myself, to keep them moving forward.
One of the other things that I discovered is common in my responses to others is that I tend to use a lot of I-statements. I think that I use a lot of eye statements when responding in order to gain a sense of personal connection with my reader. I think that its important to express your personal feelings and experiences as they relate to others and this is most easily accomplished through the use of I-statements. A good example of my use of I-statements can be found in my response to Jennifer Garnes’ battle scar story. She had more of a personal feel to her story and I intended to express that in my response to her by saying things such as “I commend you on writing about something such as this because I know sometimes matters like this hold deep personal meaning to people and they may be hard to convey to others” and “I felt your personal conflict when describing the whole ordeal.” I also discovered that I used I-statements whenever I needed to express agreement with a person’s viewpoint or beliefs. This can be seen in my responses to Tristan Briggs (“I completely agree with you Tristan on the issue of violence”), Jonathan Peek (“I do believe that this is a problem on campus that needs to be addressed”), and many of my other classmates. Chapter one of the Online Writing Consultant Handbook suggests that a sense of presence can be created in a response by simply speaking in first person about a particular issue or piece of writing (10). Conveying presence is essential to any good response. It not only lets the reader know you can relate to them, but also lets the reader know that you are genuinely involved in their writing at a personal level.
Another common principle that I utilize in my response style is clarification and specifying. After reviewing how I construct my responses to my partners and peers, I noticed that quite often I tend to clarify my ideas and viewpoints when responding to them. This is in part because I feel that I really want those I am responding to understand what I am trying to say. It doesn’t take that much effort to further explain a point, so that no misinterpretation of information can occur. If anything, I think this helps to strengthen the quality of the responses that I give. Some great examples of this can be found in my responses to my Junius H. Rose High School writing partner, Amber*. My partner Amber seems to me to be a bit under-level on her writing skills which in turn caused me a little dilemma in writing my responses to her. In order to really drive home my points to her I chose to incorporate the style of clarification in my responses. It seemed to me, from her limited use of sources, that she was unclear on the importance of research so I wanted to be sure to clarify that to her by saying “Research is very important to writing a strong paper and gathering your resources.” I also found that I commonly use clarification when responding to my fellow Jarvis Leadership classmates. For instance, I gave my friend Tristan both clarification and knowledge of my personal experience in a response to her design plan, saying “If there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the years, it is that no matter what community you reside in, there are multiple ways to get involved.” Clarity is also important to Bethany Bibb, who in her article “Bringing Balance to the Table: Comprehensive Writing Instruction in the Tutoring Session” explained how clarity and meaning is needed more in writing center responses rather than simply checking for grammatical errors with no emphasis on explanation (99). That leads me back to my own purpose for using clarification. It is simply beneficial in helping the reader to understand whatever point you are trying to either make to them or relate to them.
This evaluation of my response style has helped me come to a better understanding of my style of peer responding. Not only has it shown to me that I like to relate those I am responding to, but that I attempt to do this in the form of encouragement, by using I-statements, and by clarifying ideas and viewpoints. I now know why these things are a common trend in all of my responses. Quite simply, this is the style that I like to be responded to by others. It is no wonder that I choose to employ this method to when responding to others. I enjoy encouragement because it helps me gather my drive to continue my writing, I enjoy people personally relating to me because I feel like they understand where I am coming from, and I enjoy people clarifying their ideas to me because once again it helps me to better learn of their personal connection to me as a writer and their suggestions on where to take my writing next.
In assessing my response style I now know more about my own strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Another thing this evaluation has given me is a newfound sense of pride. I now understand my response style more than I ever did before. I have come to really enjoy my response style and I wouldn’t ever dare to change it. It is a style that shows what I have been through as a writer by relating my personal experiences and it is a style that I will forever utilize to keep my fellow authors committed to the magnificent act known as writing.
Sources
Bibb, Bethany. “Bringing Balance to the Table: Comprehensive Writing Instruction in the Tutoring Session.” The Writing Center Journal 32.1 (2012): 92-104. Print.
DeCheck, Natalie. “The Power of Common Interest for Motivating Writers: A Case Study.” The Writing Center Journal 32.1 (2012): 28-38. Print
Online Writing Consultant Handbook Ch. 1. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-13. Print
* Note: Amber is a pseudonym. The real name has been hidden to maintain privacy and keep the person anonymous.
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