Revision
1/Introduction:
Revising is the process of seeing again, of discovering a new vision of
writing you produced in planning and drafting. In a sense you have been
revising from the moment you began writing. As you deal with thinking-in-
writing strategies in planning, you revised your discussion about subject,
audience, and purpose. As you tried to apply decisions in drafting; you revised
again when you saw a better thesis or an effective outline. Now that you are
ready to revise, you must try to gain perspective on writing you have already
looked at several times.
For beginners, revision means fixing the first draft, arranging a few
phrases, substituting one word for another, correcting spelling and punctuation.
For experienced writers, revision means creating the draft-redefining their
purpose, reshaping their draft and reworking the connections among their
examples. They now have overlooked minor trouble spots, but before they begin
polishing, proofreading they want to be sure they are looking at a final text.
The revising stage is where you check that:
You have said what you wanted to say.
You have said it in a clear and appropriate way.
Revising is the most important stage in the writing process.
It involves checking that your content and purpose are clear and appropriate for
your reader, in the particular writing situation.
It is not just a matter of checking spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It involves
arranging, changing, adding, leaving out words, and so on.
2/Global vs. Local Revision: “What's the Difference?”
In order to become a more proficient writer, you need to be able to think of
your writing in "global" and "local" ways. According to the Allyn & Bacon
Guide to Writing Concise Edition, "You revise locally whenever you make
changes to a text that affect only the one or two sentences that you are currently
working on. In contrast, you revise globally when a change in one part of your
draft drives changes in other parts of the draft" (275).
Basically, global revision involves the big picture of your essay; it relates to
ideas, purpose, audience, evidence, analysis, and organization.
Local revision focuses more on sentence-level revision: changing words so that
a sentence is clearer, correcting grammatical or spelling errors, etc.
As a writer, part of your job is to be a successful global reviser as well as a
successful local reviser.
3/Some changes you might make when revising:
Look at the changes this writer made when revising a letter of complaint. They
will help you when revising your own writing. She:
1. Changes the order of parts to make the content or purpose clearer.
2. Added parts (especially to link ideas)
3. Took out parts which were unnecessary
4. Said the same thing in different way
5. Substituted one word for another
6. Combined two or three sentences into one, by taking out unnecessary
words or phrases
7. Made many long sentences into two or three shorter ones
8. Changed parts which were inappropriate for the situation, the purpose or
the audience (too friendly and informal, too informal, etc.)
9. Corrected grammar
10.Changed the punctuation
11.Corrected spelling
4/Some ideas for more effective revising :
Read your writing out loud to yourself or have someone else read it to you
.Often it is easier to hear parts that need revision
Ask someone else to read through your writing and to discuss it with you.
If you are working alone, put yourself in place of the reader
Reading to Revise
Introduction:
While revising means that you have not finished your writing yet. But you
have to make the difference between proofreading and reading to revise.
You can only proofread after finishing your writing, review it for errors, such as
spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting and typing errors.
Reading to revise often suggests contextual changes that affect the overall
meaning and presentation. The focus is on changes that affect style, point of
view, organization of content, audience… etc.
Here are some reading strategies that may help you reading your writing.
But keep in mind that you are not a writer in this stage but rather an audience.
1-Reading for subject
When reading for subject, you are checking whether this is interesting or not,
the attractiveness of your subject, if the essay focuses immediately on the
subject or not, how interesting your subject is, and its significance, you are
trying to make the subject more interesting if you can. Even the length of your
essay plays a big role.
2- Reading for audience
Your paper should be read aloud. Many grammar or word usage errors are
not picked up on until the piece is read aloud. Also, have someone else read
your work for you (aloud, if possible, so you can hear where the words or
punctuation are leading the reader away from your intended meaning). A peer or
family member with some distance can also let you know if the progression of
the paper needs help, or if something does not quite make sense. Do not be
afraid to strike out a passage that you thought sounded great, but others are
having a hard time understanding.
3-Revising for purpose
When revising for purpose, you are reading your essay slowly to check
whether the thesis statement and the main idea of each paragraph are connected
or not, and if the purpose of the essay is well explained in each paragraph, and if
the connection between the ideas is logical or not. In this step you are going to
rearrange, rewrite, or delete some of the ideas.
Revision Agenda
A revision agenda is a plan for rethinking, rearranging and rewriting the next
draft of your essay.
You may find that the subject, audience, and purpose are so intertwined that
you can not undertake three separate readings, so the easiest procedure maybe to
keep the three imaginary readers in your head simultaneously and after one
combined reading to prepare a single revision agenda.
So read the text three times answering the sets of questions that accompany
each reading. After completing all three readings, prepare one revision agenda.
After you read for subject prepare a revision agenda and then a new draft.
Organize your revision agenda by asking yourself three questions:
- What did I try to do in this draft?
- What are its strengths and weaknesses?
- What revisions do I want to make in my next draft?
