Episode 41: Writing Feedback

Introduction: 

Welcome to office hours with Dr.Lacy. Hi, I'm Dr.Lacy, your dissertation strategists where I help doctoral students finish their qualitative dissertations so that they can graduate and successfully become doctor. Let's get started with this week's episode. Hey, 2020 is coming. Spring semester will be starting before you know it and I want you to make this spring 2020 the semester that you finally finish your dissertation. I'm putting together a group of scholars who are ready to put in a work and make serious progress. It doesn't matter if you're working on your proposal, if you're collecting data or if you're finishing the entire draft, this group is for you. We will be starting on January 1st so go ahead and go over to Marvettelacy.com/2020 ; that's two zero two zero to get on the wait list, so you'll be the first to know when the doors open to this amazing group. Trust me, you do not want to miss out. This group will have everything that you need. It will tell you about like time management and keeping you accountable to your goals. And when you go ghosting, somebody will come and looking for you to say, Hey girl, what you doing? So definitely come on over to the website again, that's Marvettelacy.com/2020 to get on the wait list. You won't want to miss out. Now let's get onto this week's episode.

Feedback 101: 

Welcome back to the podcast. This week we're going to be talking about how to get helpful feedback on your writing. I think this is going to be a very quick episode, um, because I wanted it to have its own episode because I think it's important for people to reference it, but it's not really much to say about it. As you know, November has been about the theme of writing I'm asking me you all to, it's my birthday month and I was asking for the gift of writing. So to give me pages and pages of writing, I want to see you finish strong and I feel like there is so much progress, progress you can make, um, for the remainder of the year.

And, you know, I know a lot of times that we get some November, December, we get tired, it's the end of the semester and you just say F it January, I'm gonna start strong. But no, I want you to finish this year strong. Finish a decade strong. Write, write, write, write. So then next year you don't have as much to worry about. Okay. Um, so we started this series off, um, talking about why is writing so hard. Right. And that was episode number 38, talk about the psychology and the thoughts and the feelings behind why so hard. And then 39, episode 39 I want to share with you my personal system for writing and how I set up everything to get a lot of writing done in short period of time. And then episode 40, I talked about writing groups and writing retreats, um, for accountability and how to do it, um, to set yourself up in a way to actually be successful.

And so we're going to finish up this month talking about how to get feedback, right. Um, I'm sure you have been on the end or you've sent a lot of emails asking people, hey, can you look this over for me? Um, and I know a lot of people have like mixed feelings about asking for feedback. Um, one it's difficult. Like I talked about, um, episode 38 and 39, I talked about how difficult it could be to give feedback because it can be hard to see the feedback that people have about our writing, and it can be difficult to not make that feedback personal. Like it's, um, like it is like a personal attack. Like it can be hard to separate. The other thing about feedback is like, I don't want to burden anyone, you know, I know that everybody's busy and I don't want to ask them, but I just, I want to tell you that there are so many people who want to help you and they're not quite sure how to help you.

And getting feedback is one of the ways that they can help you, right? Because I'm going to talk about the different types of feedback, but it's, it's a very tangible, very clear way of asking for help in the way that people can understand it and fit it into their schedule and determine if they can do it in that. Um, let's see. I just lost my train of thought because these cars out here just, they're just rude. Um, at first want to say we're, we're after this episode, you will no longer just email someone and ask them to look it over, look over your writing. We're not doing that anymore. We're going to be very clear about what we're asking people to do. Okay. Um, because you just saying, can I, could you look this over from me that is requiring that person to go the extra step to read your mind to try to figure out what do you mean when you say, can you look this over?

5 Areas of Feedback: 

Like what am I looking for? What exactly do you want me to be looking out for? There's so many things that go into the editing process that you have to be very clear with people and that's a way for you to be respectful of their time and to indicate that you are respectful of their time, cause you're being very clear about what it is that you want them to do for you. I have also said that the theme of this week was about structure. Again, the more structure you can have in all parts of the writing process, the easier it will be. Okay. Um, so some different areas where you can ask people for help. I have like five areas outlined here.

Area 1: Grammar:

Um, the first one is what I think people most typically think about when you're asking for feedback. So things around like mechanics or grammar or things of that nature. So you may look at it like spelling, grammar, I don't know, contraptions, removing those subject verb agreement, commas, periods, semicolons, things of that nature. Like did you use those things correctly? So you may ask someone just to look over your writing for that.

Area 2: Flow: 

The second, um, area that you may ask someone is flow. You may want to know like the way that I wrote this or I've written this, yes, the way I've written this. Does it flow? Does it make sense? Um, is the sentence structure there? Is the paragraph structure there? How was my tone? Am I writing in active voice? You know, does my argument makes sense? That's what you will be asking for in terms of flow.

Area 3: Content: 

The third area is content. Like the actual content that you're writing about is it relevant to the current literature. Is it accurate? Is it missing anything? Are there any arguments or points that you should consider you? You, this is a person who is very familiar with your, um, who was very familiar with your content area, your subject or research area, that would be what that is.

Area 4: APA Format: 

The fourth area is APA. So this is like formatting and titles and citations and spaces after periods. And now the new edition has come out with APA manuals. So I feel like we're all going to be asking for feedback with this until we get, um, used to it. So APA.

Area 5: Will It Pass?: 

And then this fifth area I can find like a, a like a uh, I dunno professional term for it, but I like to say will it pass? That's the type of feedback. So this is for the people who are writing like dissertations and proposal. Like will this pass my defense? Um, so thinking about, really deep about the argument or making connection with between flow and content and alignment and research design. More than likely to something that your chair would be doing. Um, cause they are the person who's the main person who would be saying if it is if it's gonna pass or not. But maybe you want to give it to someone before you give it to your chair to see if it will pass and what their thoughts are. So we have five areas to go over those. Again, one is like the mechanics, two is flow, three is content, fourth is APA, and five is will it pass? So when you go to write your email and you're asking someone to give you feedback, making sure that you're using these words or your using these definitions or areas to be very clear. So I may write an email to someone and I say, I would like for you to look this over. I'm usually the type of, the editing that I usually do is more about flow and content and will it pass?

Dr. Lacy: 

So I'm not for clients, I'm not so much focused on the nitty gritty of like contraptions and grammar and mechanics and APA formatting. I'm more about the do you have a sound argument, does it make sense? Is it connected to current literature and will, will this pass your defense? And then I usually encourage clients or other people to go find an editor, someone who loves the details of like grammar and mechanics and APA to do those things because I find that takes a special skill set and while I can do some of those things, I would say I'm not absolutely the best at that. So that's an example.

Etiquette for Feedback Requests: 

Here's some etiquette that I want you to be mindful of before we end this, that before you ask for feedback, I want you to make a list of people, people in your circle that you would be willing to ask for feedback. And as you're making that list by their name, I want you to indicate which of these five areas you think today would be good at, that you feel like they're strong in that you'd be willing to ask for feedback. So maybe you have a one person that you know who really is great at APA and formatting, they like love it. And then maybe you have a person who knows your research area because maybe they are doing the same research. Maybe you have someone who's really good at um, flow and mechanics and things like that. So make a list of people and write down next to their name what you think they would be good.

Join Write Away!: 

Hey sis, how is your productivity going? No, for real it's just you and me. Like tell me how is your productivity going? You feel like you're getting a lot done in a week or do you feel like you're just doing a lot and why you're feeling burnt out? Feeling a little bit lonely? Wishing you had people who were just as dedicated as you are and consistent as you are to showing up week after week to get things done. Then you have to join Write Away. Write Away is my weekly accountability group where we have people just like you showing up every week to get it done. We meet on Sundays and Wednesdays for three hours each. You can choose to come either Sunday or Wednesday or both. You can come in for some time. Um, we ask that people stay for the whole time but we also know like life is real. Life happens and sometimes you have other things to do and so we have people who come in for maybe the first 30 minutes and then they leave and they come back. It is there for you. It is there as a community of people to encourage you to support you. It is there to keep you accountable to what you say you're going to do week after week. And plus, we are always like holding each other down. We are supporting each other. We celebrate the small wins that like your family and friends don't get. Like they don't understand why it might have been exciting for you to find the perfect methodology or that perfect article that explains exactly what it is that you want to do for your dissertation. That's us. We do that. We, we're here to celebrate with you and then when you need someone to help keep you together, like call you to the carpet, we're there to do that. So come to the website, check us out, and join now. Um, you can go to marvettelacy.com. Click the red button in the top right corner, work with me and you'll find all the information that you need there. I love this group. We've been going for almost a year now. You definitely, definitely should join.

Etiquette for Feedback Requests, cont'd:

And then, um, when you go to write your email or you go to ask someone for feedback, limit the page amount that you're giving to them to three to six pages because three pages is a solid like amount of writing for you to get feedback before you get too far. The six pages, like after we start to get up to six and after six pages, it takes a lot of time to read that. Um, and everyone is busy and everyone's short on time and yes, everyone wants to help you, but if you can make it easier for them by giving them smaller chunks, it just is helpful. It also stops you from going down a rabbit hole or doing or going too far on your writing. Um, and if there is something serious that needs to be addressed, that means you don't have to go back too far. Uh, and it, it gives you a nice rhythm momentum to start building up writing. So I suggest three to six pages and then making sure that you give people enough time to review it. So at the least is, I think that's right y'all. I'm getting tired. Yeah. At least give them seven days, but probably up to 14 days. Again, people are busy, they have their own things to do. And just because you decided to do something at the last minute and you feel like you need it the next day, that doesn't mean that they're going to do that.

Now if they do it, that's because they're nice and they're doing it out of the kindness of their heart. However, if you want good quality feedback, then you need to give people enough time. So three to six pages, seven to 14 days, and then, um, making sure you ask them to use track changes and then being very clear about what you want, what you want them to give you feedback on and like, and which area you want them to give you feedback. Give it, and so you give it to them, be very like ask really nicely be very clear of like, Hey, so and so I've written three pages. Would you mind taking a look at it for me? And if you could please pay special attention to flow and content. Just making sure that my argument is sound and there, uh, it has all the relevant, what you think is relevant to the research and the literature. I would greatly appreciate it if you could please use track changes. Um, you can tell them they can use Google or, or word, whatever you are most comfortable with, but please use track changes so that you can see the changes they made and any suggestions, um, that you will need it back in 14 days. And if that timeline doesn't work, if they could please let you know. Thank you. Sincerely so-and-so.

Say Thank You:

And then once they read it and they do give you feedback, be sure to send a thank you to them, whether it's a small email or like a virtual, like an e-card, but please thank people for their time. Um, and particularly making sure you use guidelines if you're paying someone to edit your stuff because you know, it's just as much as your responsibility as it is there's to make sure that you two agree on what it is that you're asking them to edit for, and what you're looking for and, and make sure you'd be clear to make sure you are quote unquote getting your money's worth. So, um, that is all I have for this episode. I would be curious to know who's on your editing team. Um, come on over to Instagram and let me know who your people are and that is all we are done with November.

Final Thoughts: 

Next week, it's going to be an interview. I can't wait for you to listen to that. November is a wrap and we're almost done with the 90 day challenge. Like we're almost done to the end of the year and I know you've been working hard and I hope that you are continuing to like move forward. And even if you have gotten off track a little bit, you can just pick up and start where you are. You don't need to go back. There's nothing to like make up. Just start where you are and keep going. That is how you finish y'all. That is how the people who make it are successful. They just pick up where they are and they keep going. So I'd be curious to know how things are going and come on over. Let me know until next week, do something to show yourself some love. I'll talk to you and bye for now.