Revising
When you finish writing your essay, you should revise it. after you revise it, you may need to return to either of the previous stages (prewriting or writing) to make improvements to your writing. you also may need to do additional drafting.
Quotes about drafting
"The second draft is where the fun is. In a first draft, you get to explode. The objective (at least for me) is to get it down on paper, somehow. Battle through the laziness and the not-enough-time and the this-is-rubbish and everything else, and just get it written. Whatever it takes. The second draft is where you go and gather together the fragments of the explosion and figure out what it is you did, and make it look like that was what you always meant to do.
So you write it. Then you put it aside. Not for months, but perhaps for a week or so. Even a few days. Do other things. Then set aside some uninterrupted time to read, and pull it out, and pretend you have never read it before -- clear it out of your head, and sit and read it. (I'd suggest you do this on a print-out, so you can scribble on it as you go.)"
- Author Neil Gaiman (2008)
https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/you-put-your-right-hand-rear-leg-in.html
"My first draft was a haphazardly mowed path through a dark and scary overgrowth of trees and weeds; it took a dozen more drafts to prune and trim, plant new things, string up some lights—so I could arrive at something of a garden."
-Author Emily X. R. Pan
"First drafts are like practicing dance moves in your room alone in the dark; it doesn't matter what it looks like because it's just for you."
-Author Jen Wang
"I think and think and think, and then the first draft pours out on to the page, ready to be expanded in the direction I actually meant for it to go."
-Author E. K. Johnston
(Source: Bustle)
Many people divide the revising stage into two parts: revising and editing. Revising focuses on making changes to improve the clarity of your ideas and organization. Editing focuses on making changes to improve your grammar. Revising should generally be completed before editing.
Here are some questions that you can ask yourself while you are revising an essay.
Revision questions
- Does the introduction provide the general information a reader needs in order to understand the topic?
- Does the introduction end with an effective thesis? Does it match the style of the essay?
- Do each of the body paragraphs begin with an effective topic sentence?
- Are the body paragraphs sequenced in a logical order?
- Look at each body paragraph. Do the supporting sentences support the topic sentence?
- Look at each body paragraph. Are the supporting sentences sequenced in a logical order?
- Look at each body paragraph. Is there enough development? Are there more details or examples that would help the reader?
- Look at each body paragraph. Does the concluding sentence close the paragraph logically?
- Does the conclusion paragraph start by restating the thesis?
- Does the conclusion paragraph have a suggestion, prediction, or opinion at the end?
Self-check
You should always read through your essay to identify mistakes. Try to finish your drafting with enough time to leave your essay, and then come back to it later to make revisions. As you revise your own work, you may need to add, delete, or move text. Mark any parts of your essay that you want to ask a friend/tutor to help you with. You should also proofread for mechanical errors (spelling, grammar, etc.). You may be surprised by how many errors you are able to identify on your own.
Here are some strategies for proofreading:
- Start by simply reading through your essay for typos. This is an easy way to clean up your mechanics and present a more professional essay.
- Look through your essay to check for basic grammar errors. For example, you might check to make sure that every sentence has a subject and a verb (and that they agree).
- If you are not writing for a test, try reading out loud. This may help you identify more errors. We often notice that something doesn't make sense when we hear it.
- Read the essay backward (paragraph by paragraph).
Get feedback and make changes
If you are not writing for a test, have a friend or a tutor review your writing before you submit it to your teacher. Then use the feedback you get to make changes. If your teacher gives you feedback on your draft before the final paper is due, make sure you use it to improve your essay.
Exercises
Exercise 1: Give Feedback
Read this student's essay. What feedback would you give the student? Don't just look at superficial concerns like spelling and grammar. Consider the ideas and organization of the essay.
Prompt: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: All children should be required to take a foreign language class from the time they start school until they begin university. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Response:
According to this changing world where speaking two or more different languages is a vital part of being able to have better educational, work, and social opportunities. Education departments should join efforts to help and encourage students to take a foreign language classes. According to recent studies, it has been discovered that the English language is now the language of science and business. So schools need to increase their efforts to help students develop reading and comprehension skills in English, and be able to write essays on any subject or academic topic.
Firstly, developing reading and comprehension skills in English allows students to have opportunities in the future. For example, many students who try to apply to different schools in the United States face an important test called TOELF. This test results in checking each person's ability to speak, write, listen and read. A large percentage of people taking this test need improvement in the reading section. In my personal experience, the reading and compression section has also been very difficult. In the same way, reading skills open doors for new jobs. At present, there are evaluation exams to be able to apply to the different jobs in the English language. These exams measure the understanding of the different processes or projects at work and then determine the knowledge that the candidates have. Developing these reading and comprehension skills in English could be a useful tool for the future in education or work.
Second, writing essays on any subject or topic in English is essential for the student's future. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are measured in tests such as the TOEFL. Writing is elementary since it must have a detailed structure and organization. In the English language, I must write a topic sentence and give a reason and be able to provide examples so that our topic sentence has support. Currently, companies ask job applicants to write a cover letter, they do this to know the intentions of people, but also to see the way of writing each one of them. For example, if someone is writing a letter with a lot of misspellings, it might not be a good sample to get the job. Also, it is essential to be able to have a good writing style in English, since in the business world today tons of emails are written every day. According to statistics, the most common emails on the internet are written in English. Therefore, it is impotant to develop English writting skills to the future.
These two important English Skills can help student to have success in their life. Most of people are able to speak and listen English, but reading and writing are special skills that we need to go to school and learn those.
Exercise 2: Revise
Use the example essay from the previous exercise.
- Based on the feedback you gave, revise the essay. For example, you could alter the topic sentences, add more development, change the order of supporting sentences, or add something that is missing.
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