Giving feedback is one of those professional skills that everyone expects you to be able to do, but no one actually teaches you how to do it.
We’ve all received feedback on our work that was confusing or landed poorly because the person giving it couldn’t express themselves well. And most of us have also found ourselves in the position of having to give feedback but having no idea how to go about it.
This is a challenge in every profession, but since I’m a writer, I’m going to talk specifically about giving feedback on writing—something that can be especially tricky because writing is so subjective. Add to that the need to explain our reasons clearly and do so without burning any bridges, and it can feel impossible.
Throughout my years as an editor, I learned through plenty of trial and error how to give clear, useful feedback. In this blog, I’m going to share a four-step process I developed that will hopefully make giving feedback a little easier for you, too.
Step 1: Pinpoint exactly what isn’t working
It’s very easy for us to notice that a piece of writing is losing us, irritating us, or confusing us. It’s much harder to identify exactly why we feel that way.
You might feel an article’s subject matter is boring, but in reality, it’s the writing style that’s losing you, and some snappier prose would make it interesting.
You may think the writer is using too many big words, but the real reason you’re confused is because they’re jumping from topic to topic without explaining themselves well.
When learning how to pinpoint the core problems in a piece of writing, there’s no replacement for time and practice. But most problems fall into a few overarching categories, including:
Logic issues
A piece’s internal logic is the sequence of ideas it uses and how well those ideas build off each other. If the writer jumps between topics without fully explaining how they’re related, or if they assume the reader knows things not explicitly stated, there is an issue in the piece’s logic.
Logic issues are a common reason a reader may feel confused. When this happens, the writer needs to either better organize their ideas, more clearly define concepts, or make the connections between their points clearer.
Pacing issues
Pacing is usually used in reference to fiction (e.g., a fast-paced novel) but every piece of writing has its own pace to some extent. When an article spends too much time on one topic and too little on another, there’s an issue with its pacing. This usually causes readers to feel bored or irritated.
Pacing issues are fixed by shortening slow sections, fleshing out brief sections, and making sure the most interesting topics are at either the article’s beginning (to hook readers’ attention) or end (to leave them with a compelling thought).
Prose issues
When the tone of an article is off or the sentences are convoluted, then the issue with the prose itself.
Sometimes, the writer’s voice will just feel off—too casual, too formal, too meandering, etc. In these cases, the writer needs to reevaluate their word choice and make sure they’re using words and phrases that are appropriate for the publication.
If you find that individual sentences are leaving you confused, the writer may need to revisit their sentence structures to make sure they’re writing clearly and concisely.
Step 2: Communicate what’s not working as clearly as possible
It will likely be a little tricky, time-consuming, and borderline annoying to dig into exactly why a piece isn’t working for you. That’s perfectly okay. It’s arguably even ideal, because once you’re confident you know what’s not working, the remaining three steps will fly by.
The next step is to write down, with as much specificity as possible, what’s not working. Narrow it down to the paragraph that lost you, the sentence that confused you, or the word choice that irritated you.
Just like that, you’ve finished the hardest part of giving feedback.
Step 3: Give an actionable solution
Now that you’ve written out what needs to change, add a few sentences about how it needs to change.
In some cases, this will be simple. If you’ve noted that a sentence is confusing, the actionable solution is to rewrite that sentence. If you’ve found that an idea isn’t explained well enough, the actionable solution is to add more content explaining it.
In other cases, it may take a little more thought. Logic issues that require reordering a piece are especially tricky. You may be able to come up with a detailed game plan (ex., “move paragraph four to right after the intro and delete paragraph 5”) but in most cases, you’ll be better served by giving vaguer suggestions like “restructure this piece so the most basic ideas are explained first” or “make it clearer how these two topics are related.” It’s the writer’s responsibility to figure out how.
Step 4: Be nice!
You don’t have to coddle writers. No one worth working with is going to get angry about reasonable feedback.
That being said, you don’t have to be rude, either. And when giving feedback, especially written feedback, it’s easy to accidentally come across as rude.
After you’ve written out exactly what’s wrong and how you want the writer to fix it, I recommend doing the following to make sure the feedback goes down easier:
- Add a couple sentences up front detailing what you liked about the piece. This both cushions the blow and reinforces the kind of writing you want to see more of.
- Make sure your feedback is in first or third person, not second. Using the word “you” risks making your feedback feel like a personal attack. Instead of saying “you got the tone wrong,” say “the tone is too informal.” Instead of saying “your argument is unclear,” say “I was confused by this section.”
- Say please. Phrase your actionable solutions as requests instead of commands. “Shorten this paragraph” can easily be read as a barked order, even if you don’t mean it that way. “Could you please shorten this paragraph?” is clearly a friendly request.
Giving feedback is hard. It’s also something that, once you’ve mastered it, typically helps you stand out among your colleagues. After all, professional success is all about soft skills, and that’s exactly what the ability to give good feedback is.
I hope this piece is helpful, and that it makes your feedback process easier. In the meantime, if you want to work with someone who’s experienced at both writing and implementing feedback, feel free to contact me.
Nicole D'Angelo 