Not only do I write (about waffles)
but I also spread my waffley wealth of information as comments for peers and
their writing. I will start by analyzing things on a case by case basis.
My first comment on Ken’s
Firmware & Hardware paper is simply a note of praise and encouragement. I
like Ken and Ken is a good guy. Sometimes people need to just be told they’re
doing a good job. I’m going to miss him if he drops the class. I make comments
of like these, “NICE JOB MAN (:” every now and then on other papers. I feel
like this kind of characterizes my comments (but of course still serves a
purpose).
My next comment directly
addresses his thesis. Now that I think of it, I probably could have addressed the
audience being addressed in relation to genre, but I focused more on the core
of the thesis, as it was more of a quagmire question than a thesis. I provided
a suggestion, which I like to do in the cases of quagmire, kind of like when
someone’s searching for the word, and you can’t help but say “blah?” wondering
if it’s the word they’re looking for. I think it’s helpful given the situation.
My third comment was simply a
point towards grammar. Even though Ken’s paper was only a draft, I occasionally
made grammar edits that popped up to me, that the writer may or may not have noticed..
He might just revise the whole paragraph and it wouldn’t matter (but I doubt
it) or it will make it easier to find when proof reading. I think these grammar
things are a great thing to make note of!
I’m a very aloof commenter. I try
not to take things too seriously as I read. That’s not to say I make light of
the job I have as a reviewer, but I try to comment like I would if I were
talking to a friend who had just shown me the paper in real life. Throw in an
occasional joke with some random praise to balance out the hardcore criticism
you know?
