Peer Review Discussion: Process Essay No unread replies.No replies. For this dis

Peer Review Discussion: Process Essay
No unread replies.No replies.
For this discussion board, you’ll be writing a full essay, but one that is much shorter than the narrative essay. This time, the essay has a minimum requirement of 500 words. Your five additional responses, as before, need to be only 100 words each. The purpose of this discussion board is to share your work with your peers and to give and receive feedback regarding how to revise the essays and make them even better. Please scroll down to find the directions for both the essay itself and the peer responses:
Process Essay
For this assignment, you will write a 500 word (or more) essay that explains to your reader how to do something. (No recipes, please.)
Your essay will teach a novice how to complete a particular task. Perhaps you can teach your reader how to do something concerning household chores, or a car, or a computer. Or maybe you can teach your reader a skill that you’ve learned at your job or in one of your classes.
In choosing your topic, please keep the following requirements in mind:
Choose a specific process. “How to use a computer” is far too general. “How to use Microsoft Word” is more specific, but still far too general. However, a topic appropriate for a 500 word essay might be “How to purchase music online and create a personalized playlist.” By reading such an essay, readers unfamiliar with the process would be able to follow your steps and create their own music mix.
Choose a process complex enough to require at least 500 words. “How to turn on a washing machine” would be far too simple, of course, as it would require only a single step. “How to do laundry” would be a much better topic.
Choose an actual process, not a set of rules or guidelines. For example, an essay entitled “How to Avoid Identity Theft” may provide some very useful advice, but it would not document an actual process. It would more likely be a list of “do”s and “don’t”s. Try this simple test: If your “steps” can be reordered and achieve the same result, you’re not dealing with a process at all, but a list of rules. Choose a true process, one that requires specific steps to be completed at specific moments in time.
Avoid topics that require a good coach (rather than a good essay) in order for your readers to be successful (such as how to drive, how to play football, how to dance, or how to play guitar).
Choose a topic that is appropriate for an essay that will be read by your classmates during our online peer review session—please don’t choose something too personal, embarrassing, or controversial.
Again, no recipes or other food-related topics, please.
To begin, first read the “Process” chapter in our textbook (if you haven’t already), including the samples. Use this chapter as your guide. To prepare for this essay, chose your topic and your focus (controlling idea) and then write your thesis statement. Try to complete the process yourself, even if you’ve done it hundreds of times before, and pay close attention to every single step. When you write your essay, you will need to avoid leaving out a step that may seem obvious to you but not to a novice. Remember that you will need to inform your reader of all the materials needed for the process to work. For example, if you want to teach your reader how to change a car’s oil, you will need to begin by explaining what supplies are needed.
Next, jot down a list of instructions. For a process essay, such a list functions as an outline. Look for steps and supplies that you may have omitted. Be thorough.
After refining your instructions, write the essay itself in paragraph form, rather than in “step” form.
IMPORTANT:  Please write your own set of instructions. Do not copy from the Internet or any other source. Any essay that includes uncited material copied from another source, even on the rough draft, will receive an “F” as the final grade for this essay project, and students who plagiarize may be removed from the course permanently. Do not plagiarize. Please ask your instructor if you have any questions about what plagiarism is and what it is not, and remember that you can use our book as a guide as well.
Your rough draft should be posted here by Monday at 11:59 p.m. Then, you have until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. to complete a peer review as before. In fact, it is probably best to go back and review the earlier peer review directions for word count requirements and posting guidelines. For your reference, the list of suggested questions has been posted below, with one additional question (highlighted):
1) What is the author’s thesis? See if you can identify it and quote it.
2) What are the top five most interesting details in the essay? Specify.
3) Where, if anywhere, does the author stray from his or her focus?
4) Describe the author’s organizational pattern.
5) How interesting is the author’s opening?
6) How satisfying is the author’s conclusion?
7) What possible grammatical issues do you see?
8) How else can this essay be made better?
9) What did you like most about this essay?
10) If you were a novice (beginner) and had never completed this task before, would this essay be clear enough so that you would be able to accomplish the task without any further guidance? Why or why not? If so, then what makes it so strong? If not, what’s missing, what needs to be clarified?
As always, your initial post (i.e., your essay) is due on Monday and your five peer review responses of at least 100 words each are due on Wednesday.
Happy writing!