The Lost Art of Revision

Have Red Pen; Will Edit

Revising vs. Editing vs. Proofreading - The Scott, Foresman Writer, pages 36-42

• Don't they all mean the same thing?!?
• Or how do they differ from each other?
• Is there a specific order I should be doing them?

Revision Exercise

Key Elements of Project One

• Thesis

• Support Paragraphs

• The basic structure of a support paragraph

• Transition / Topic sentence

• Support, examples, details (see below)
  

• Link back to paper's thesis 
  

• Don't forget the third step in the process - even after you have identified strategies and provided examples of them, you still need to tell the reader why the example/strategy under review is particularly compelling.

• How is it different than other ways the point is/could be addressed? 

• Why did you focus on this example in particular?  Is it better than others?  Is it a particulary novel or "fresh" approach to the argument/topic being discussed?

• Citations and Examples 

• In a project like this, it is important that you provide ample evidence to back up your claims and to demonstrate the style/strategy of the work.  Thus, reference to the work - via quotations and/or paraphrasing - is essential. 

• Exigence of the Work (Its "So What" Factor) and Its Audience 

• In order for you (and your reader) to understand the purpose of the work you're discussing (and, more specifically, the rhetorical choices of its author/creator), adequate context must be part of your rhetorical analysis.

• You need to consider why the work was created, what issue or concern it is responding to, whether it is for or against related ideas and arguments, and what audience in particular it is attempting to address or persuade.

Other Elements of Note...

• Generally speaking, don't actually use the terms ethos, pathos, and logos in your paper.

• Again generally speaking, don't define terms in your introduction.

• Feel free to workshop among yourselves.

Assignment for Friday:

• Submit a REVISED Project One rough draft for Friday's second Rough Draft workshop.  Your rough draft should be uploaded and linked on your Class Roster page - be sure to name the file something different than your first rough draft.  See the Project One and How to Upload Papers to the Wiki pages for more information.