88 Understanding Feedback

With intentional collaborations like peer review, tutoring sessions, and instructor feedback, you receive direct and immediate feedback. But once you’ve participated in one or more of these activities, what do you do next? How do you use feedback to move forward with your project?

First, you’ll want to keep in mind the intention of feedback and prioritize the feedback you’ve been given. Remember that feedback is intended to improve your work. Therefore, in the spirit of collaboration, accept feedback with an open mind, and give feedback in a way that helps other writers grow. Second, consider any higher-order concerns (HOCs) identified by your instructor, tutor, or peer reviewer; HOCs are the most complex, substantive, in-depth aspects of your work, such as organization, argument or thesis statement, purpose, audience, and supporting evidence; lower-order concerns (LOCs) are important but not as critical as HOCs in conveying a message or deeper meaning to a reader. LOCs often include mechanics, spelling, grammar, and punctuation; we’ll come back to HOCs and LOCs more fully in the next section. Third, think about how you can address these concerns. For example, here are a few ways to respond to feedback:

1. Review the feedback carefully.
   1. If you don’t understand a point, ask your reviewer to clarify.
   2. Divide the feedback or comments into HOCs and LOCs.
   3. Prioritize which HOCs and LOCs will guide your revision process. Which are most important? (Hint: it’s usually the HOCs!)
2. Start with the most important concern, and from there, work your way through the feedback—from HOCs to LOCs.
3. Double-check the assignment sheet, rubric, or other guidelines you’ve received. These instructional documents can help you prioritize what you need to do. Can you match feedback or comments to points on the rubric or assignment sheet?
4. Look for positive feedback. What did you do well?
5. Thinking ahead to your next composition—whether that takes place in a writing classroom, on the job, or in another situation—consider what feedback will be most helpful to you becoming a better writer in the long term?

As a final step, ask for help as you work through the feedback process. If the feedback comes from your instructor, for example, you might find it helpful to do your best to work through the steps above, then schedule a session with your institution’s writing center. Or invite peer reviewers to a writing group in which you work together to understand feedback and come up with ways to successfully implement that feedback

Feedback is useful at any stage. Got an outline but haven’t written much? Seek feedback. Have a title and introduction but not much else? Feedback from a friend could be your solution. One last thought: Give your reviewers time, too; it’s unrealistic to expect detailed feedback moments before a project is due.