A lecture about revising essays.

1. REVISION
Steps Chap 6

2. The Writing Process
1. Prewriting
2. Outlining
3. Drafting
4. Revising

3. Levels of revision
•Revising—rethinking your content (your words and
ideas)
•Think critically and creatively
•Try new ways of communicating ideas
•Focus on your purpose
•Editing—fixing grammatical errors
•Proofreading—fixing typos and formatting

4. Unity
•Two part topic sentence communicates main idea and
purpose
• All sentences contribute to that purpose
Strategies:
•Delete off-topic sentences;
•Alter topic sentence to fit supporting sentences.

5. Support
•Hunt down vague statements!
• Illustrate everything with a concrete, personal example.
• Always explain why.
• Remember—repeating yourself does NOT count as support.
Strategies:
• Think about drafting as painting—where are the white spaces?
• Look for places where you simply mention an idea, then move on to
another. Those are the places that need more support!
• Replace vague words like good, bad, crazy, okay, etc.

6. Organization
•Remember to put every event into chronological order.
•Look at your verbs! They should be in the past tense.
•Use a transition whenever the time in your story shifts. (p 33)
Strategies:
•Try making a time-line of your story. Which events are
misplaced?
• Circle every verb in your draft. Are they ALL in the past
tense?

7. Editing/Proofreading
•Style—the mannerisms you use to express yourself in writing
•Choose to use colorful words, not boring words;
•Eliminate repetition (including words and ideas that you
repeat)
•Eliminate all uses of well, like, kind of like, and other
phrases you would use in a conversation.
•Check carefully for grammar errors and typos
•Strategies:
•Trick your brain! Read your essay backwards, starting with
the last sentence.

8. Peer Review
1. Trade your essay with a partner; sign each other’s
essays.
2. Format. Does the essay follow the assignment format?
3. Format. Does the essay have a creative title?
4. Format. Is the topic sentence underlined? If not,
underline it.
5. Unity. Does the topic sentence communicate the main
idea and purpose of the story? How could the writer
communicate more clearly?

9. Peer Review
6. Unity. Cross out any sentences that seem off-topic.
7. Support. Where does the essay need more details? Where
does it have too many details (long-winded)?
8. Support. Are there any vague words? What could the
writer change them to?
9. Organization. Is the story in chronological order? Are
there any portions that are confusing?

10. Peer Review
10. Proofreading. Pay attention to the verbs in the essay. Are
they all in past tense? Circle all verbs that are NOT in the
past tense.
11. What is the best part of the essay? Why?