{"id":330,"date":"2019-08-28T01:18:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T01:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i\/chapter\/text-revising-drafts\/"},"modified":"2019-08-28T01:18:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T01:18:16","slug":"text-revising-drafts","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/chapter\/text-revising-drafts\/","title":{"raw":"Revising Drafts","rendered":"Revising Drafts"},"content":{"raw":"\nLet's continue exploring what the UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center has to offer about Revision.\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>THE PROCESS<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What steps should I use when I begin to revise?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Here are several things to do. But don\u2019t try them all at one time. Instead, focus on two or three main areas during each revision session.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Wait awhile after you\u2019ve finished a draft before looking at it again. The Roman poet Horace thought one should wait nine years, but that\u2019s a bit much. A day\u2014a few hours even\u2014will work. When you do return to the draft, be honest with yourself, and don\u2019t be lazy. Ask yourself what you really think about the paper.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">As <i>The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers<\/i> puts it, \u201cTHINK BIG, don\u2019t tinker\u201d (61). At this stage, you should be concerned with the large issues in the paper, not the commas.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check the focus of the paper: Is it appropriate to the assignment? Is the topic too big or too narrow? Do you stay on track through the entire paper?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Think honestly about your thesis: Do you still agree with it? Should it be modified in light of something you discovered as you wrote the paper? Does it make a sophisticated, provocative point, or does it just say what anyone could say if given the same topic? Does your thesis generalize instead of taking a specific position? Should it be changed altogether? For more information visit our handout on <a href=\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/thesis-statements\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">thesis statements<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Think about your purpose in writing: Does your introduction state clearly what you intend to do? Will your aims be clear to your readers?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What are some other steps I should consider in later stages of the revision process?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Examine the balance within your paper: Are some parts out of proportion with others? Do you spend too much time on one trivial point and neglect a more important point? Do you give lots of detail early on and then let your points get thinner by the end?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check that you have kept your promises to your readers: Does your paper follow through on what the thesis promises? Do you support all the claims in your thesis? Are the tone and formality of the language appropriate for your audience?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check the organization: Does your paper follow a pattern that makes sense? Do the transitions move your readers smoothly from one point to the next? Do the topic sentences of each paragraph appropriately introduce what that paragraph is about? Would your paper work better if you moved some things around? For more information visit our handout on <a href=\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/reorganizing-drafts\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">reorganizing drafts.\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check your information: Are all your facts accurate? Are any of your statements misleading? Have you provided enough detail to satisfy readers\u2019 curiosity? Have you cited all your information appropriately?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check your conclusion: Does the last paragraph tie the paper together smoothly and end on a stimulating note, or does the paper just die a slow, redundant, lame, or abrupt death?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Whoa! I thought I could just revise in a few minutes.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Sorry. You may want to start working on your next paper early so that you have plenty of time for revising. That way you can give yourself some time to come back to look at what you\u2019ve written with a fresh pair of eyes. It\u2019s amazing how something that sounded brilliant the moment you wrote it can prove to be less-than-brilliant when you give it a chance to incubate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But I don\u2019t want to rewrite my whole paper!<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Revision doesn\u2019t necessarily mean rewriting the whole paper. Sometimes it means revising the thesis to match what you\u2019ve discovered while writing. Sometimes it means coming up with stronger arguments to defend your position, or coming up with more vivid examples to illustrate your points. Sometimes it means shifting the order of your paper to help the reader follow your argument, or to change the emphasis of your points. Sometimes it means adding or deleting material for balance or emphasis. And then, sadly, sometimes revision does mean trashing your first draft and starting from scratch. Better that than having the teacher trash your final paper.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But I work so hard on what I write that I can\u2019t afford to throw any of it away.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">If you want to be a polished writer, then you will eventually find out that you can\u2019t afford NOT to throw stuff away. As writers, we often produce lots of material that needs to be tossed. The idea or metaphor or paragraph that I think is most wonderful and brilliant is often the very thing that confuses my reader or ruins the tone of my piece or interrupts the flow of my argument. Writers must be willing to sacrifice their favorite bits of writing for the good of the piece as a whole. In order to trim things down, though, you first have to have plenty of material on the page. One trick is not to hinder yourself while you are composing the first draft because the more you produce, the more you will have to work with when cutting time comes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But sometimes I revise as I go.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">That\u2019s OK. Since writing is a circular process, you don\u2019t do everything in some specific order. Sometimes you write something and then tinker with it before moving on. But be warned: there are two potential problems with revising as you go. One is that if you revise only as you go along, you never get to think of the big picture. The key is still to give yourself enough time to look at the essay as a whole once you\u2019ve finished. Another danger to revising as you go is that you may short-circuit your creativity. If you spend too much time tinkering with what is on the page, you may lose some of what hasn\u2019t yet made it to the page. Here\u2019s a tip: Don\u2019t proofread as you go. You may waste time correcting the commas in a sentence that may end up being cut anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">How do I go about the process of revising? Any tips?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n \t<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Work from a printed copy; it\u2019s easier on the eyes. Also, problems that seem invisible on the screen somehow tend to show up better on paper.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Another tip is to read the paper out loud. That\u2019s one way to see how well things flow.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Remember all those questions listed above? Don\u2019t try to tackle all of them in one draft. Pick a few \u201cagendas\u201d for each draft so that you won\u2019t go mad trying to see, all at once, if you\u2019ve done everything.<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Ask lots of questions and don\u2019t flinch from answering them truthfully. For example, ask if there are opposing viewpoints that you haven\u2019t considered yet.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s continue exploring what the UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center has to offer about Revision.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>THE PROCESS<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What steps should I use when I begin to revise?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Here are several things to do. But don\u2019t try them all at one time. Instead, focus on two or three main areas during each revision session.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Wait awhile after you\u2019ve finished a draft before looking at it again. The Roman poet Horace thought one should wait nine years, but that\u2019s a bit much. A day\u2014a few hours even\u2014will work. When you do return to the draft, be honest with yourself, and don\u2019t be lazy. Ask yourself what you really think about the paper.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">As <i>The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers<\/i> puts it, \u201cTHINK BIG, don\u2019t tinker\u201d (61). At this stage, you should be concerned with the large issues in the paper, not the commas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check the focus of the paper: Is it appropriate to the assignment? Is the topic too big or too narrow? Do you stay on track through the entire paper?<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Think honestly about your thesis: Do you still agree with it? Should it be modified in light of something you discovered as you wrote the paper? Does it make a sophisticated, provocative point, or does it just say what anyone could say if given the same topic? Does your thesis generalize instead of taking a specific position? Should it be changed altogether? For more information visit our handout on <a href=\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/thesis-statements\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">thesis statements<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Think about your purpose in writing: Does your introduction state clearly what you intend to do? Will your aims be clear to your readers?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">What are some other steps I should consider in later stages of the revision process?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Examine the balance within your paper: Are some parts out of proportion with others? Do you spend too much time on one trivial point and neglect a more important point? Do you give lots of detail early on and then let your points get thinner by the end?<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check that you have kept your promises to your readers: Does your paper follow through on what the thesis promises? Do you support all the claims in your thesis? Are the tone and formality of the language appropriate for your audience?<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check the organization: Does your paper follow a pattern that makes sense? Do the transitions move your readers smoothly from one point to the next? Do the topic sentences of each paragraph appropriately introduce what that paragraph is about? Would your paper work better if you moved some things around? For more information visit our handout on <a href=\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/reorganizing-drafts\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"s2\">reorganizing drafts.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check your information: Are all your facts accurate? Are any of your statements misleading? Have you provided enough detail to satisfy readers\u2019 curiosity? Have you cited all your information appropriately?<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Check your conclusion: Does the last paragraph tie the paper together smoothly and end on a stimulating note, or does the paper just die a slow, redundant, lame, or abrupt death?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Whoa! I thought I could just revise in a few minutes.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Sorry. You may want to start working on your next paper early so that you have plenty of time for revising. That way you can give yourself some time to come back to look at what you\u2019ve written with a fresh pair of eyes. It\u2019s amazing how something that sounded brilliant the moment you wrote it can prove to be less-than-brilliant when you give it a chance to incubate.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But I don\u2019t want to rewrite my whole paper!<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Revision doesn\u2019t necessarily mean rewriting the whole paper. Sometimes it means revising the thesis to match what you\u2019ve discovered while writing. Sometimes it means coming up with stronger arguments to defend your position, or coming up with more vivid examples to illustrate your points. Sometimes it means shifting the order of your paper to help the reader follow your argument, or to change the emphasis of your points. Sometimes it means adding or deleting material for balance or emphasis. And then, sadly, sometimes revision does mean trashing your first draft and starting from scratch. Better that than having the teacher trash your final paper.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But I work so hard on what I write that I can\u2019t afford to throw any of it away.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">If you want to be a polished writer, then you will eventually find out that you can\u2019t afford NOT to throw stuff away. As writers, we often produce lots of material that needs to be tossed. The idea or metaphor or paragraph that I think is most wonderful and brilliant is often the very thing that confuses my reader or ruins the tone of my piece or interrupts the flow of my argument. Writers must be willing to sacrifice their favorite bits of writing for the good of the piece as a whole. In order to trim things down, though, you first have to have plenty of material on the page. One trick is not to hinder yourself while you are composing the first draft because the more you produce, the more you will have to work with when cutting time comes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">But sometimes I revise as I go.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">That\u2019s OK. Since writing is a circular process, you don\u2019t do everything in some specific order. Sometimes you write something and then tinker with it before moving on. But be warned: there are two potential problems with revising as you go. One is that if you revise only as you go along, you never get to think of the big picture. The key is still to give yourself enough time to look at the essay as a whole once you\u2019ve finished. Another danger to revising as you go is that you may short-circuit your creativity. If you spend too much time tinkering with what is on the page, you may lose some of what hasn\u2019t yet made it to the page. Here\u2019s a tip: Don\u2019t proofread as you go. You may waste time correcting the commas in a sentence that may end up being cut anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">How do I go about the process of revising? Any tips?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Work from a printed copy; it\u2019s easier on the eyes. Also, problems that seem invisible on the screen somehow tend to show up better on paper.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Another tip is to read the paper out loud. That\u2019s one way to see how well things flow.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Remember all those questions listed above? Don\u2019t try to tackle all of them in one draft. Pick a few \u201cagendas\u201d for each draft so that you won\u2019t go mad trying to see, all at once, if you\u2019ve done everything.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li4\"><span class=\"s1\">Ask lots of questions and don\u2019t flinch from answering them truthfully. For example, ask if there are opposing viewpoints that you haven\u2019t considered yet.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-330\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Introduction. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revising Drafts. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The Writing Center at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/revising-drafts\/\">http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/revising-drafts\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives <\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":141992,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Revising Drafts\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The Writing Center at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/handouts\/revising-drafts\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Introduction\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-330","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":327,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/330\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/327"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/330\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-eng-101-college-writing-i-lynch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}