Many English texts provide a revision checklist to guide students
through the process of revamping their essays.
Unfortunately, very little student writing is ever revised, as
you and I both know. If we are to see improved student writing,
we have to make sure students understand the role of revision
in the writing process.
Ineffective revision requirements
Most English programs deal with the problem of unrevised work
by requiring that students submit a revision of their work for
a grade.
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I've yet to see students' work improve as the result of required
revisions; most of the time work scarcely changes during enforced
revision, let alone changing for the better.
Part of the problem is in the revision checklist itself.
Why textbook checklists rarely work
Pick up any English text discussion of the writing process
and you'll probably find a revision checklist that won't work.
It won't work for three reasons:
You can deal with all three of those issues easily using practices
I recommend on this site.
Strategic solution starts with thesis
You will get further if you tackle the problem of unrevised work
by teaching students strategies for planning
their work, beginning with the working
thesis and pushing through to a complete
plan. Later students can turn each preparation strategy into
a revision checklist clearly tied to the writing process for the
genre in which they are writing.
The page about self-monitoring
revision checklists shows in detail how students make checklists
built from strategies.
Basically, students compare what the strategy said to do with
what their essay shows they did. If the two don't match, students
need use the strategy to revise their compositions. If they match,
student do not need to revise.
The writing repairman's jargon
Rewriting is writing to learn
We all know what rewriting is. It is scribbling, scratching out,
writing something different until you are satisfied that written
words express your understanding of a topic.
For most students, rewriting is William Zinsser calls writing
to learn. Students are trying to clarify in their own
minds what they think about a topic on which they may never have
thought before.
Such deep thinking is hard work. To keep students from giving
up in discouragement, you and I must teach strategies to minimize
rewriting of entire papers.
Rewriting is time-consuming and frustrating, especially
for beginning writers. Instead of having students rewrite entire
essays, we can have them rewrite specific items at specific times
in the writing process. Specifically, they they should rewrite:
Each of those elements consists of a single sentence. Students
who put serious effort rewriting at each of those points will
practically eliminate the need for a all-essay rewrite.
Revision is seeing if the main point is clear
Revision literally means re-visioning. In the revision
stage of the writing process, writers look at their work to see
if they made their original vision clear.
Revision assumes the writer had a clear vision to begin with.
If Josh's working thesis was vague, ambiguous, or entirely missing,
he cannot revise.
Major textbook revision issues
Revision requires writers to look at five big issues that affect
an entire piece of writing. In most textbook revision checklists,
the big issues are:
Not one student in 50 can tell you what words mean when it comes
to revising their own work.
Fortunately, if you teach students to write in just thesis +
support genre using a writing process specific to that genre,
you can use specific language that will not only make sense to
students, but tell them how to go about revising.
Purpose
Instead instead of telling students to revise for purpose, tell
them to reread the assignment directions. If the writing
prompt is any good, the directions will indicate the purpose and
the audience for the writing.
Instead
of revise for purpose say reread the directions.
Unity
A unified piece of writing is all about one main idea,
which we call the thesis
statement. Writing lacks unity if it contains something irrelevant
to the thesis. Good planning and use of an outline
template virtually eliminate the potential for irrelevant
content.
Instead of revise for unity say
make sure your composition includes all the evidence on your
plan.
Writing may appear to lack unity if writers do a poor
job of bringing out the significance of supporting information.
The evidence
waltz makes sure students explain the significance of their
evidence.
Instead of revise for unity say make sure
you used the evidence waltz for every piece of evidence.
Organization
Writers need to comply substantially with readers' organizational
expectations for the genre in which they are writing. If you
teach students to use the thesis + support pattern and a writing
process that fits that pattern, this issue need not come up. Students
will plan using the outline template that produces a comprehensive
plan.
Instead of revise for organization
say make sure your composition substantially matches your comprehensive
plan.
Development
There is more to a paper than a statement of its central point.
The rest of the writing explains or elaborates on the thesis.
This expansion goes by the general name of development.
Instead of revise for development
say make sure your composition includes all the evidence on
your plan.
Coherence
Coherent writing gives the impression of holding together,
of being more than a collection of ideas. Unified, organized writing
organized coheres more readily than a disorganized hodgepodge.
Writers, however, must grammatically
link one sentence to the one before and after it. Such linkages
can be taught and learned mechanically.
Instead of revise for coherence
say make sure your sentences are linked together.
