Author's+Note

Author’s Notes: Reflect on Your Writing Process What to include in your author’s note?
 * ** The history of the piece ** —howdid you come up with the idea? What influenced your writing? Whatdecisions did you make as you wrote the piece? How did you decide how toapproach it? What did you change as you wrote it? What were you trying toshow the reader? How does this draft compare to earlier versions? Whatproblems have you encountered and how have you attempted to solve them? What challenges did you face?


 * ** Your evaluation of the piece ** —Whatdo you think of this paper? What do you think is working well in this piece?What lines or parts of the paper do you like? What is frustrating you?What do you think really needs work? What problems have you been unable tosolve? If you think about the kinds of pieces you read in this and otherclasses, what possibilities can you envision for this piece?


 * ** The response you would find most helpful ** .What response do you want to the paper? What do you want to know fromyour readers?

What are Author’s notes NOT?

Author's notesare NOT apologies, clarifications of what is unclear in the paper, defenses ofyour paper against possible criticism, complaints about the assignment orprocess or printer malfunctions. Inorder to usefully promote good writing and critical thinking practices,author's notes should not succumb to these temptations. They should be more than summaries of thepaper they accompany. I would like tounderstand your writing process, your intent and I would like you, through yourauthor’s note, to start a conversation with me about your paper. What do I need to know in order to be mosthelpful to you in our response? The bestauthor’s notes open up issues for me to discuss in our responses, and exposevulnerabilities in your paper. Openyourself up to receive good response to your work.