Session conduct

The facilitator leads the brainstorming session and ensures that ground rules are followed. The steps in a typical session are:

1. A…….. …... to expose novice participants to the …….. …….. .. A simple problem is brainstormed, for example: What should be the CEO retirement present? Or: What can be improved in Microsoft Windows?

2. The facilitator …….. …….. and gives a further …….. if needed.

3. The facilitator asks the brainstorming group for their …….. .

4. If no ideas are forthcoming, the facilitator suggests a lead to …….. ……...

5. All participants…….. their ideas, and the idea collector …….. them.

6. To …….. …….., participants may …….. their ideas.

7. When time is up, the facilitator organizes the ideas based on the topic goal and …….. …….. .

8. Ideas are ……...

9. The whole list is …….. to ensure that everyone understands the ideas.

10. ……… …….. and obviously …….. …….. are removed.

11. The facilitator thanks all participants and gives each a token of…….. .

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming)

Ex. 7. Watch video aided instructions «Prewriting», fulfill the given tasks.

In-class-writing Assignment

Writing the first draft in class.

Use your brainstorming notes from the previous assignment to organize and write a short article on the benefits of studying in the U.S., or Canada, or any other country you like.

• Choose three major benefits.

• Support your discussion with examples and details.

• Use the guidelines for in-class assignments in the following chart. Try to finish in the time given. (Calculate how many minutes to allow for each writing activity.) (300–350 words every other line).

Suggested Time Management for Writing Process Activities

	Out-of-Class	In-Class
Brainstorming	25%	15% (…minutes)
Organizing	10%	10% (…minutes)
Writing	20%	60% (…minutes)
Revising	35%	5% (…minutes)
Proofreading / Editing	10%	10% (…minutes)
	100%	100% (…minutes)

Vocabulary

to revise	sequential	to delete	simultaneously
proofreading	outlining	smooth	to focus at
to edit	improvement	chart	final selection
preference	feedback	to list	fluent
brainstorming	to share notes	benefit	management
to cluster	to occur	visual	to determine

Peer review and revision

ObjectivesIn this unit you will:	learn what peer review is;
	learn what revision is;
	examine ground rules for peer-reviewing;
	know different approaches to peer-reviewing;
	define strategies for clarification;
	learn active vocabulary for peer-reviewing.

Starting up

Ex. 1. Answer the discussion question: Why do you think peer-reviewing requires critical-thinking skills?

Introduction

Peer review and revision

Peer-reviewing is an integral part of the writing process. When professors write textbooks and articles, they seek out their colleagues for feedback in order to revise effectively. Likewise, when you complete writing assignments in this text, you will seek out the opinions of your peers to improve the paper.

Peer-reviewing will help you grow as a writer and as a critical thinker. To begin with, peer-reviewing requires critical-thinking skills because you have to analyze the paper. In your peer reviews, you will have to identify the effective areas as well as the areas which need improvement. You may wonder how qualified you are to do this. After all, you are not a teacher. Nonetheless, you are a reader, and you will be helping your classmates tremendously if you target the unclear areas in their papers. In addition, by evaluating models and your peers' papers, you will become a better writer because you will see what works and what does not, and you will have frequent practice applying the rules for effective academic writing.

Although this activity may be hard at first, you will get better at it. Your confidence will build as you make progress with both your analytical skills and writing. The final benefit is the improvement you will see in your classmates' writing as the term or semester progresses. For example, the first time you peer-review, you may notice that your partners' compositions are short and not well organized. However, at the end of the term, both you and your partners will probably be able to compose interesting and well-organized essays.