To: Taylor Smith
From: Lia Slager
Date: January 29, 2019
Subject: Assignment 1:3 – Peer Review
Taylor,
Thank you for submitting assignment 1:3 for our writing team. I’m glad to see that you are catching up quickly in the course material. I have to the best of my abilities, reviewed your first draft of the assignment. It is evident that your definitions of historiography have been well thought out, however, I have some feedback that I hope will go to strengthen your work.
First Impressions
I appreciate how the term you chose related directly to your specialization and I believe you were effective in clearly defining the term for those who are not pursuing a history major (much like myself). You have provided more than enough information so that I was able to understand the gist of the term well, after the first reading. If I were your supervisor I may ask for a slight revision before publishing.
Purpose/ Audience
I believe that you have fulfilled the objectives of this assignment well and seems like you have understood the purpose of, as well as, behind each type of definition. Your definitions appealed well to those who are “non-technical” readers. I can appreciate the clarity and simplicity of your definitions for those who are not pursuing a degree in history.
That being said, I believe your understanding of the purpose of a parenthetical definition, as a student writing an assignment, could be clearer with a different sentence choice. Your sentence almost elaborates further on the definition provided in the parentheses. I think this could give the impression that you believe that the definition provided in the parenthesis is insufficient and in need of further elaboration. I would have preferred a sentence which provides an example of a context in which the word historiography may be used.
Organization
Each heading is clearly labeled and follows in chronological order. Not only does this makes it easy for your reader to follow along but also adds to their understanding.
Visual
I thought your visual and the context in which it was given, added to your definition and my understanding well of the term historiography. It also helped me understand how giving further context for my visual could strengthen my own work, as per your recommendation.
Compare and Contrast
I thought by adding this section you have effectively identified where a “non-technical” reader could have confused the definition of historiography with the word history.
Another way you could have further related the word historiography to the term history, while still emphasizing its distinct definition, is by outlining history (or historia) as a root term for historiography.
Negation
I do think that the section “Negation” was just a summary of the above section Compare and Contrast. While it did not deter from my understanding of the term, it did not significantly add to my understanding of the term either. I think it could have either been combined with the above section: Compare and Contrast or eliminated.
Overall
I think that your definitions contributed well an overall understanding of the term historiography which is itself rather an ambiguous discipline.
Additional Comments
On an overall basis, I believe that you have put together a strong assignment and a few very effective definitions. I hope that my comments were insightful and contributed to your final submission.
For your enjoyment, I have attached a short comic below, relating to my new understanding of the word historiography 🙂
Sincerely,
Lia Slager
Image from: http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist420/Historiography.html
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