Matthew Lovett

ID# 20566522

The Art of Feedback Part 3 Reflections

 Isolate two or three comments that you received (even if they’re comments
within comments) that you found particularly impactful and helpful to you on your
composing journey or even as a writer? Why are these comments effective? What
about them, specifically, did you find very helpful? How do you intend to apply them?
A comment had brought to my attention a significant enlightenment to me, which was that while
my message was clear, my argument to support my message wasn’t as apparent. That was particularly
helpful to me because it demonstrated to me that you can’t simply put forth your message without a
concrete argument to support it. You’re not giving your audience a reason to invest their time and thought
towards your theory or idea, it’s essential to provide your audience with an argument so your claim seems
more sustainable. As of now, I’ve concluded the only effective method in which I could properly present
an argument is if my modify my artifact to become a video, but that conclusion might change as I am still
unsure if I should pursue this method. Another comment I found helpful was concerning how I presented
my theory in terms of advertising it. As in my original artifact, I worded the presentation in a way in
which made it seem as if you had to buy it. I can understand why this may be a cause for concern as my
intention is not to ask for any currency or compensation but simply to provide awareness to an issue I
believe should be researched and acknowledged more. This is a simple change, as I just need to reword
some of the text, so it demonstrates my concept in a more noble fashion.

 Like the previous question, do the same but this isolate two or three comments
that you found particular ineffective. Why were these not as helpful? What do you
think the commenter misread or misinterpreted in your project? Is there a reason you
can think of why the comment was posted? In evaluating these comments, what does
it teach you about peer review and the way that you formulated comments for your
peers?

It comes as a bit of a shock, but surprisingly the most ineffective feedback in my opinion is where
you’re told that your artifact is “perfect” and has no room for improvement or modifications. I outright
loathe that type of criticism because I firmly believe in that there is always room for improvement
regardless of whatever it may be and one should strive to constantly enhance whatever it is you are
working. It’s also incredibly useless as considering this is a first draft, you wish to develop your artifact
further but that becomes more difficult as you’re not being given constructive feedback. I don’t think it’s
a question of misinterpretation and their isn’t a solid explanation as to why these comments are made, but
if I were the one giving feedback I’d try to implicate as much criticism as possible that I feel as though
could improve their artifact. Always strive to help the creator better themselves, even if it comes to the
point you’re nitpicking because those comments can provide insight into other issues the creator can later
discover, which they wouldn’t have found if it wasn’t for your assessment. In all, this has given me a new
perspective on peer review as now I understand the responsibility a peer has on offering criticism and the
great importance feedback has on a project. It’s a concept I further demonstrated and implemented in my
own feedback I gave to my other peers.

 Upon weighing and evaluating the feedback received, where do you go from
here? How are you taking the comments and applying them to your research project?
What changes will you specifically be making in the next draft of your artifact?
 Matthew Lovett
ID# 20566522

The next step I feel is to perhaps provide more elements to my artifact instead of the basic
message I am conveying. What I mean by that is on the surface, while my artifact presents the main
theory clearly but there’s not much else one can dissect from it, and if my artifact is to be effective in
demonstrating my message it needs more contents. Like an argument, an example, and sources to further
provide support of my claim, all of which were elements the feedback I received found lacking.
Unfortunately, in order to effectively provide all those elements, I’d have to upgrade my artifact from an
image to a video. Which is a significantly more difficult task of accomplishing as opposed to creating an
image. It mostly comes down to my fear of dedicating my effort and time to a project and then having it
not meeting my own expectations. That’s why my first draft was an image because I had the comfort of
knowing it was a first draft and creating an image was an easier task of accomplishing so no matter what I
had created, I’d have some reassurance to soothe my fears. As of now, I’m still weighing my options and
determining the best direction my artifact should go in for myself and the artifact respectively, hopefully
I’ll come to a conclusion soon.

As a general overview of your feedback received, what have you learned about your
own learning, creating, and composing process? How do you know you’ve learned
this? What comments that you received key into this new insight you have?
I’ve learned I have the habit of becoming fixated end up having ”tunnel-vision” on one particular
aspect of a project without realizing it where I concentrate fully on a singular element instead of the
artifact as a whole. While it can have a positive effect as it can keep me focused and alert, it has the
negative side effect of completely glancing other facets which are just as important of not more so than
the one I am currently concentrating on. This is evident as a major criticism that most of the feedback I
received concerning improving my artifact had was that I gave too much attention to my message which
was overly clear. But my peers were not given a reason to accept this message and had no way to prove it
was a substantial claim so they were left asking “but how was this conclusion made and why is it so
important that it requires this level of presentation?”. So, it demonstrates that I can sometimes lose focus
on other attributes of a project and fail to see the big picture concerning my project. I have now learned to
recognize this and seek to eliminate this effect in my next draft of my artifact.