English Composition and Conversation

The following ideas are partly taken from The Community of Writers.
  Requirements

• Revision is not just proofreading.
• Revision is to "enter into a conversation with your previous thoughts."   In other words, revision may involve changing your  ideas and thus your self.

 
• No writing is perfect.  Every piece of writings can be revised.
• However, sometimes it's not easy for the writers to see their own problems or  limitations.
• For jurnior English majors, moreover, it's important to learn how to revise without a teacher's help and with the help of your peers.

 

How to revise?

1. Reseeing/rethinking: changing what a piece says or its "bones."

-- What is your essay about?   What do you want do about it and for what?
-- Are you ready to challenge yourself?  Are you able to take another perspective to look at the same issue?  Do you have anything to add to it?
2. Reworking, reshaping; changing how a piece says it or changing its "muscle."

-- How is your essay presented?  And for whom?
-- Do you need a new introduction?  A better conclusion?  Are the ideas logically and interestingly presented?  Do you need more concrete details (description, dialogue, etc. ) or examples?
3. Copyediting or proofreading for mechanics and usage; checking for deviations from standard conventions or changing the writing's "skin."

-- Is your language correct and effective?
-- Are there run-on sentences and problematic sentence constructions?  Can sentences be combined in a better way?    Are there other types of grammatic errors (e.g. punctuation and subject-verb agreement) and usage problems?  Are there typos?

1. Narrative: changing the point of view;  focusing on just one of the moments, giving a different ending.
2. Expository essays: Change the tone of your argument (e.g. from serious to comic or ironic); add a story or some creative writing to your piece.
3. Mixing or changing rhetoric modes: turn your expository essay into a fiction with the same point; do a collage of argumentation and fictive writings; add in pictures and other visual materials.

Whether you do a creative revision or traditional revision,

1. Step by Step and each stage takes one week: Go through the above three stages with the help of your partner; after the first stage, write up an outline for your partner and teacher.
2. Writing journal: keep a writing journal to record what you feel at each stage and examine if you are capable of doing revision with the help of peer comments.

End product: 1. an essay with a two-page cover sheet; or a web page with a short introduction.  Sample format; sample writing.
 
The cover sheet should include: 1. What the paper is about and how it is presented, 2. Your writing process, 3.  Acknowledgement of help received.


  Reference: Revision Sheet Checklist