Why give feedback?
The overall goal of instructor feedback is, of course, to improve student writing. To do that, you need to consider both the substance and the tone of your comments. Comments that are incisive but that intimidate or de-motivate students may in fact detract from the their development as writers. Be direct and specific when identifying strong points and areas that need improvement, but keep in mind that you are dealing not only with an assignment but with a writer.
Commenting on student writing is teaching, not editing. If a student came to your office to discuss a paper, your tone would be constructive and supportive; employ a similar tone when you are commenting in writing.
Think about the most important goals you would like your comments to accomplish. While it is tempting to equate quantity of comments with quality when it comes to marking, composition research indicates that focused marking is more effective at improving student writing. What are the main points the student needs to pay attention to in order to improve their writing? What strong points do you most want to reinforce? Too many comments can overwhelm students and make it hard for them to pick out the main things they need to work on. Also, if you focus your marking, you can be more thorough in what you do choose to comment on.
The bases of feedback
You can base the focus of your response on any of the following:
The purpose of the assignment
You or the course designer created the assignment for a particular purpose (for example, to have the students demonstrate their grasp of the conventions of the cover letter, their ability to do a close reading of a text, or their ability to effectively compare and argue for one of two products). It makes sense, then, that your comments should be focused on how well the student fulfilled the assignment’s purpose.
Stage of the assignment
An assignment proposal or initial draft will likely have a different focus than a final draft. There’s little point closely marking the grammar of a passage that will later be deleted or substantially rewritten. Early drafts are a good time to concentrate on large issues—the substance of an argument or overall organization. You can, of course, also point out more persistent local issues to forestall their appearance in subsequent drafts.
Most prominent issues in the student work
Of all the strong or weak points in a given assignment, or over a series of assignments, which are most important for the student to be aware of? Which most affect the quality and effectiveness of the student’s work? If you identify a persistent issue, it is often helpful to work with the student over multiple drafts to resolve it.
Having a focus for your marking will prevent you from spending most of your time correcting surface errors, which are often more apparent than larger issues that may compromise the entire piece.