Choose one of the following revision strategies and complete it either on notebook paper or in a word processor and print it. Whether handwritten or typed, you will turn in this revision strategy, along with the two that you completed last week, when you turn in the 2nd draft of your research essay this week.
Revision Strategy Option 1: Reorganizing Around Thesis and Support
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- Locate your thesis and underline it, or if your thesis is not yet completely clear, write a revised thesis now. If your thesis is not yet located near the end of your introductory paragraphs, place it there now.
. - Look at each paragraph or section of your essay individually, as if they stood on their own, and find the topic sentence for that paragraph or section. If no topic sentence is present, write one now. If you have taken more than one paragraph to develop an idea, make sure that the topic is somehow restated in the paragraphs that follow.
. - For each topic sentence that you have either located or written, ask yourself whether or not the relationship between the topic sentence and the thesis is clear. On a separate sheet of paper, write a sentence or two that describes the relationship between this topic and your thesis. By the end of this exercise, you will develop an outline of your sub-topics with explanations of how each relates to your thesis. Compare each freshly written description of the relationships between your sub-topics and your thesis with the topic sentences that you have identified as already present in your essay and make revisions to your draft as needed.
. - Next, ask yourself if the details present in each section or paragraph adequately support either your existing topic sentence or your freshly revised topic sentence. If so, include a brief statement in your outline that states that you have adequate support. If not, explain what kinds of details you need to add to each paragraph or section in order to fully support the topic. Also note where those details will come from. Do you have the sources you need or will you need to do a little more research?
. - Finally, in this process, you may have noted that some paragraphs are too short and either need to be expanded upon or combined with others, or you may have noted that some paragraphs are too long and need to be broken up (and perhaps a new topic sentence or transition needs to be written as you create a new paragraph). Include any notes and make any plans regarding the restructuring or reorganization of paragraphs.
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Revision Strategy Option 2: Cut & Paste Revision (aka “The Frankenstein Draft”)
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See the explanation of this strategy on page 231 in our text (exercise 5.4). This strategy is a particularly good one if you feel that the order in which you have presented ideas in your essay might need some serious reorganization. If you’re not sure, try it! You might be suprised what happens with your essay as a result. One situation where this revision strategy might not be particularly useful is with an essay that is arranged chronologically (for example, if an essay covers a historical topic). It’s up to you which strategy you try, but I will say that cutting apart your draft, as this strategy calls for, can be a lot of fun, and it’s pretty exciting to see the new draft take shape, right before your eyes, liberated from its old form!
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Posting a reflection on one of this week’s strategies:
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Choose one of the two revision strategies that I assigned this week to discuss for this entry.
- First, identify the focus of the strategy for others who will read this post. Does the revision strategy focus on revising for purpose (thesis), meaning (main ideas), or information (sources and supporting details)?
. - Provide the title of the revision strategy (e.g. “Reorganizing Around Thesis and Support”).
. - Provide at least two interesting, surprising, or helpful developments that arose from this exercise. Be specific. If these exercises of reorganization, restructuring, and evaluating your support helped you view your essay in a new way, or if you found something lacking in your essay that still requires some serious attention, whatever you learned about your essay as a result of this exercise, write about it here and explain why it was particularly surprising, interesting, or helpful. Be sure that your examples relate directly to the revision of your essay and that you are specific.
. - Take some time to project or predict how your essay will be changed as a result of this exercise. This is a revision strategy, so in other words, in the coming weeks, during your final revision process, explain how you will apply the results of this exercise as you draft the final version of your essay. Be specific, and really discuss how this final version of your essay will differ from the current version as a result of employing this strategy.
Comment on two of your classmates’ posts from last week:
Finally, comment on two of your classmates’ posts from last week (Entry 6, the first post on our first set of revision strategies). Read their reflections. Find some similarities and some differences in your individual experiences regarding revision, and try to post a helpful word or two of advice. Don’t forget to paste the URLs from your comments at the bottom of your post for this week.
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