This week has been especially transformative in how I see myself through the lens of the academy. As I'm continuing to develop my sense of writing as an academic writer, as opposed to a casual writer in modern society, my most difficult task has been staying on task; when there are so many new topics and perspectives to soak in, I tend to forget my bigger purpose here. With a focus on refocusing this week, and as we are diving into completing peer reviews with the rest of our classmates on our first big assignment, I am thinking about perspective.

Our first assignment is a Critical Review of Fernsten and Reda's article about self-reflective practices in academic writing. We are using selections from Peter Elbow's Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process to guide our own processes in reviewing each other's reviews. Particularly poignant is the excerpt on reader-based feedback; this is essentially giving feedback based on the way a piece of writing makes the reader feel (Elbow, 245).

Fernsten, Linda A., and Mary Reda. “Helping Students Meet the Challenges of Academic Writing.” Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 16, no. 2, 2011, pp. 171–182. Taylor & Francis Online, doi:10.1080/13562517.2010.507306.

Elbow, Peter. Selections from Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1998. ProQuest Ebook Central, 0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/lib/athabasca-ebooks/detail.action?docID=241397.