Peer Review Recap Part 2

This time the peer review process was more confusing to me.  I don't think the WetPaint wiki is as straightforward as Google Docs was.  It didn't seem quite as organized, and that made it more difficult to find everything.  I still didn't mind the WetPaint format, though it was more complicated when it came to the actual editing of papers. 

Apparently some of the editing tools don't work well with Safari, so when I was trying to edit papers I couldn't change the color of the font.  This meant that I couldn't find many ways to distinguish my comments from the actual papers.  I would underline something so that it would show up, and then once I saved it the underlining would be gone.  Plus, unless people posted a thread or wrote their name after their editing, there would be no way to know who was saying what.  That wasn't crucial, but without the name how will it work for grading?  When using Google Docs before, it would give the name and time right next to the comment, which made it more helpful.  It also showed up differently than the paper itself, making it easier to see where the comments were.

The Wiki still did it's job in that I was able to give constructive comments, which I did to the best of my ability ( I would have been able to receive them as well if I had posted my essay).  The online peer review process is proving to be just as beneficial, if not more so, than the traditional face to face format.      

What Others Are Saying

Upon reading the Strunk and White vs. Williams blog posts, I found that I agreed with a lot of classmates in one aspect or another.  Most people found that Strunk and White's book was one that they would refer to more, which I agree with unless it is something that needs a lot of detail or discussion.  However, I agree with much of what Nicole has to say about preferring the Williams book overall.  It gave more detail and while it was difficult to understand at times, it had more information that I wasn't as familiar with previously.  Strunk and White's book is handy as a reference guide, but some of the rules were common sense. 

A lot of people found Williams to be much harder to get through and stay focused on, and I agree that it was difficult to continue sometimes, especially when an example was especially complex or drawn out.  Still I think that it was very worthwhile to read, because there is a lot of good information in there if time is taken to sort it out.  

One last thing mentioned in Nicole's blog that I agree with is that these books are so different that it is difficult to compare them.  We can all have views on which book we liked better and why, but both books address style in very different ways.    

Strunk and White vs. Williams

I'm going to start by saying that no, I haven't read as much of this book as I should have by now.  I'm completely overwhelmed with the amount of work I have this week, and combined with being sick, I'm just going to do the best I can.  

What I have read of Style: Toward Clarity and Grace is really interesting.  I have found this book to be, as forewarned, much more complex than The Elements of Style, but even in its complexity I find it more helpful and more engaging than the latter.  While the examples are long and sometimes very tedious, I think they are necessary to give an in depth explanation and give the reader the greatest opportunity to grasp the concept.  I also like that Williams doesn't bark orders as much in his book, leaving me feeling less like I am in the military.  

As far as whether Williams discussed some of the same things in his book as what I wrote about in the Strunk and White post, the answer is only a little bit.  I talked about some specific rules and examples from Strunk and White, and Williams talked more about concepts.  It is true that he went much more in depth with those concepts, but that isn't what I discussed. If I had written about concepts from Strunk and White, there would have been more overlapping.  

Overall, I think that Williams is proving to be more helpful.  I really just need to get caught up and finish the book on time!  I agree with what was discussed on EMU-Online about the use of the word turgid, though; I once found it three times in the same paragraph!!!  

Revising with Williams

I'll admit, I am behind at the moment.   I'm basically struggling though a flood of work.  I will get this one posted as soon as I can, but I want to leave a space for it so I can post the next one.