Writing Sample Swaps?

[TsarandProphet]

Hi guys,

I know that traditionally people swap SOPs, but I was wondering if you'd all like to swap writing samples. Naturally, this will entail not detailed feedback but rather an overall, macro feedback about its strength. If current graduate students are willing to participate as well in critique, we'd be happy  

[historygeek]

I would love to do this! I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself.

[TsarandProphet]

16 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I would love to do this! I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself.

 

16 minutes ago, historygeek said:

I would love to do this! I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself.

I have some time off the archives until Tuesday and would be happy to look at yours :) I believe it’s called virtuous procrastination;)

[historygeek]

5 hours ago, TsarandProphet said:

 

I have some time off the archives until Tuesday and would be happy to look at yours I believe it’s called virtuous procrastination;)

Great! I'm almost done with my sample, then I'll put it on Google Docs and PM you.

[psstein]

To channel my inner @Sigaba, I'd be very careful about this sort of thing. It can easily lead to questions of academic integrity. SOPs are, I think, fine. Writing samples can open a new can of worms.

 

[dr. t]

50 minutes ago, psstein said:

Writing samples can open a new can of worms.

I would disagree. Writing samples are meant to be pieces of academic writing, and part of the process of academic writing is the solicitation of outside feedback. My writing sample had been through two rounds of peer review when I applied, for example. 

[Sigaba]

3 hours ago, psstein said:

To channel my inner @Sigaba, I'd be very careful about this sort of thing. It can easily lead to questions of academic integrity. SOPs are, I think, fine. Writing samples can open a new can of worms.

 

2 hours ago, telkanuru said:

I would disagree. Writing samples are meant to be pieces of academic writing, and part of the process of academic writing is the solicitation of outside feedback. My writing sample had been through two rounds of peer review when I applied, for example. 

A way to keep the process on track would be to use tactics similar to those used by panel moderators/reviewers.

• Person A gives Person B a writing sample.
• Person B writes a summary of A's sample as a form of read back. This summary would allow both parties to understand if the sample's basic argument was clearly written and rested on a good foundation of primary sources and secondary works.
• Person B then would offer feedback in an agree/disagree format. The key here is to avoid sharpshooting or brawling. The objective is to enable Person A to make the best form of an argument, even if that argument is antithetical to Person B's take on the topic at hand.
• Person B would end with a handful of general recommendations that would enable Person A to write a stronger piece.
  • General recommendations for this exercise are appropriate as it is, IMO, better to avoid by miles any potential boundaries of academic/intellectual integrity.
  • An example of a general recommendation is that rather than striking out word-limit killing prepositional phrases and passive verbal constructions, one instead recommends "finding ways to write more efficiently and use the savings in words to detail crucial arguments."
• The crucial elements here are trust and professionalism. If Person A wants to take an "orthodox" approach to the origins of the Cold War, then Person B needs to act in good faith by bellying up to the bar and supporting that effort, even if Person B agrees with everything Bruce Cummings has ever written or said about John Lewis Gaddis.
• Concurrently, Person A needs to approach the exercise with a level of sensitivity to the ongoing historiographical debates over the origins of the Cold War with a commitment to professional "objectivity" (what ever the heck that is).

Still, there will be risks to both parties, especially if there's a great disparity in levels of skill. What then?