Draft Workshop March 25

Listen to the current draft of your partner's podcast and answer the following questions in Wave:

1. Compose a retrospective outline of the piece. List the main sections of the podcast, note the central claim of each section (i.e. something like a paragraph topic sentence) and note what evidence is used in each section to prove that claim.

2. Where is the author’s hypothesis? At what point in the podcast do you know that s/he is conducting an experiment? Is this soon enough? Could it be sooner? Is the hypothesis highlighted and explained adequately?

3. How do you know when the author changes focus and moves to a new section? Are they separated by silence / pauses? Sound effects? Changes in tone? Are these section divisions clear? Suggest ways in which the podcast’s organization might be highlighted for the listener.

4. Has the author used any music, sound effects or other post-production techniques? How do these change the tone of the podcast? How would the podcast be different without them? Do you think that they’re performing a function or are they just window dressing?

5. How is the fidelity of the podcast? Can you hear everything clearly? Can you understand each word that is said? Note ANY places where the content is unclear so that the author can re-record them.

6. Is the podcast 4-6 minutes long as per the assignment? If it is too short, what do you think is missing? Should the author add more background research, explain the experiment more slowly, etc.? Is it too long? If so, what information is extraneous? What don’t you need to know in order to understand the author’s experiment? Think about your own podcast and the one you listened to in the first draft workshop as you consider how this draft might be expanded or cut to meet the length requirement.