HOC and LOC in revising

Higher order concerns

Higher Order Concerns (HOC) should be the priority during revision because they have the greatest impact on successful communication.

Analysis

Feedback focuses on examination of topic, relevant research, and interpretations, specifically looking for multiple perspectives including counterarguments (if applicable). This HOC will address ways to add to and improve the analysis of subject matter and sources within a paper.

Audience awareness

Feedback focuses on how effectively the argument/discussion/analysis addresses expectations of a target audience, as well as how the information will engage the audience. This HOC will address how/if the writing reflects the intended audience.

Expansion

Feedback focuses on how to expand a paper, suggesting areas for development and integration of research, evidence, and reflection. This HOC will address ways to expand and strengthen the ideas within a paper.

Genre expectations

Feedback focuses on how well the writing fits with expectations of the genre and discipline (e.g. rhetorical analysis in English, biology lab report, educational research proposal). This HOC will address the use of disciplinary language and conventions.

Integration (and credibility) of sources

Feedback focuses on reviewing sources relative to how well they are integrated within the text, including relevance to claim/thesis, introduction, and explanation. This HOC will address how sources and quotes are incorporated into the paper

Introduction and conclusion

Feedback for the introduction focuses on how well the introduction creates interest, identifies the main point, provides necessary context/background info, and previews the essay. Feedback for the conclusion focuses on how well the conclusion makes connections to the thesis/research question and discusses future implications. This HOC will address how/if the introduction and conclusion work in tandem to cohesively establish and carry out the ideas developed throughout the paper.

Overall argument and supporting points

Feedback focuses on examination of the topic, relevant research, and interpretations, specifically looking for multiple perspectives including counterarguments (if applicable). Feedback also focuses on how the supporting points address the main topic and how examples are used to support the main argument. This HOC will address whether there is a cohesive, main argument and how that argument is supported.

Overall organization

Feedback focuses on the movement between ideas, specifically looking for logical progression and transitions between ideas. This HOC will address how the paper as a whole is organized.

Paragraph structure

Feedback focuses on how ideas are developed within paragraphs, specifically introducing and concluding ideas, strength of analysis/synthesis, and depth of explanations. This HOC will address the structure and organization of individual paragraphs.

Synthesis

Feedback focuses on the use of different sources, research, reflection, and datasets in combination with each other to build a larger argument, point, or state of knowledge. This HOC will address how well sources are woven into each other to create a main idea or argument.

Thesis

Feedback focuses on how significant, arguable, and focused the thesis of the paper is and how relevant the thesis is to the needs of the assignment/prompt/purpose. This HOC will address the thesis statement itself, how well it functions as a thesis statement, and how that thesis interacts with the rest of the paper.

Later order concerns

Later Order Concerns (LOC) are focused on sentence and word level concerns.

Concision

Feedback focuses on using the most efficient and effective language choices, including pointing out unnecessary words, ineffective repetition words/patterns, and passive constructions (if genre appropriate) and providing wording alternatives

Citation, style, and formatting

Feedback focuses on how well the document conforms to a specified style (e.g., AMA, APA, MLA, etc.), including reviewing in-text citations and the works cited/references section for accuracy based on the publication/citation style being used, as well as other style specific formatting features (e.g., headers, title page, spacing).

Paragraph transitions

Feedback focuses on movement between paragraphs, specifically how effectively logical order and transitions/transitional devices are used.

Punctuation

Feedback focuses on examining usage and logic related to punctuation, such as commas, semicolons, parentheses, em dashes, etc.

Sentence structure and variety

Feedback focuses on examining sentence structures to ensure they follow clear organizational patterns and that component parts of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs) are effectively used. Feedback also focuses on reviewing readability based on variations in sentence patterns in terms of length and construction. This LOC will address how sentence structure choices affect the clarity of the writing.

Word choice and phrasing

Feedback focuses on examining word choice and patterns to determine where ideas are confusing or ambiguous, including reviewing tense consistency, article usage (a/an/the), and phrases.