ENG 135 Powerpoint on the Revision Process and how to use track changes.

2. TODAY’S AGENDA
Class Standards Reminder
Some Quick Mechanics
Revising at the Draft Level
Overall Meaning
Paragraph Level
Track Changes Demonstration
Conferences

3. STANDARDS
2 Revisions per paper
Office – Rm. 249 Liberal Arts Building
Office hours – 11:20-12:20 Tuesdays and Thursdays
Email – 24 hours except weekends!

4. CORRECTIONS
Go out on a limb
Explore
There’s no such thing as a finished piece; you just have to meet a deadline.

5. QUICK MECHANICS
“a lot”
Too, to, two
They’re, Their, There
Run-on sentences

6. A LOT
Two words
There is no such thing as an alot

7. TWO, TO, TOO
The professor told us two times not to make redundant statements. He may
need to take that advice, too.
Two = a number
To = a preposition
Too = also

8. THEY’RE, THEIR, THERE
They’re going to pick up their books and write an essay for class over
there.
They’re = They are
Their = possessive
There = place

9. RUN ON SENTENCES
Take a deep breath.
Read your sentence out loud.
If you’re out of breath, you’ll want to break up your sentence.
“This one time, I endeavored to write a run on sentence, which was rather
difficult at first because I couldn’t think of anything to say, then I just
decided to start saying stuff that came to my head and as it came to my
head, it became easier to write a run on sentence without taking a
breath, and thankfully commas exist otherwise I’d be choking trying to
read this sentence out loud.”

10. AT THE DRAFT LEVEL
Revision is an ongoing process
Constant
Builds upon last segment

11. SOME TECHNIQUES
Set aside your first draft
Work from Printed Text (or with Track Changes)
Read the Draft Aloud
Revise in Steps
Address Instructor Feedback (when it comes)
Peer Review

12. SETTING ASIDE YOUR FIRST DRAFT
Take more than a few minutes
Wait until the next day
Read again from an impartial standpoint
Set aside time to re-read

13. PRINTED TEXT (OR TRACK CHANGES)
Allows an impartial stance
Grants ability to leave markup
Track changes – saves paper, leaves markup

14. READ THE DRAFT ALOUD
Helps with the impartial stance
Not in public

15. REVISION IN STEPS
Overall meaning and structure
Paragraph development
Sentences and Words

16. INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK
I promise you’ll get feedback soon – by Thursday
Refer to it as a building block
Pay attention to the revision process

17. PEER REVIEW
Common practice
Find someone to help
Someone honest

18. OVERALL MEANING
Does the piece flow?
Do the paragraphs makes sense in sequence?

19. PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
Does each paragraph have a topic?
Do the paragraphs fully explore their point?
Are they the correct length for their topics?

20. FULLY DEVELOPED PARAGRAPHS
One weekend, I tried to grade a mess load of papers (mess load being a
technical term). I put all the papers out on my desk, sat in front of my
computer, and proceeded to fail at grading. Sure, I marked up some of
the papers. I made comments where they were needed. But I still
haven’t finished the lot of them.
I could have lied about the whole affair. I could have claimed that my
papers were stolen by an academically minded thief, or a very selective
fire broke out in my house. In the end, though, I felt it more important to
own up and say tell everyone that they’d receive their papers on
Thursday. So that’s what I did.

21. BREAK IT DOWN
What were the topic sentences?
Did the paragraphs fully explore their topics?
Was the transition strong?
Were the paragraphs too long or too short?
Between these two paragraphs, could you reasonably tell what the paper
was about?

22. TRACK CHANGES
Open Up Microsoft Word – or if you can’t log in to the computers, look over
someone’s shoulder.
Follow along with me!

23. OPEN SOURCE
OpenOffice and LibreOffice are free versions of the Microsoft Office pack.
Available for any system
Fulfill many of the same functions
Different placement in the program. But look around.

24. GOOGLE DOCS
Google Docs are now a part of Google Drive
Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but the Docs are the best free
collaborative writing software available.
Try out Gmail
Follow along

25. WORDPRESS
Should have an email sent already.
If you haven’t, I haven’t received your Wordpress information.
Make sure if you haven’t sent your Wordpress account information that you
do so by midnight tonight.
If you’re having trouble, let’s talk about it during the conference period.

26. CONFERENCES
Status check.
How is your proposal coming along?
If you aren’t conferencing, you should be working on the writing
assignment for the day.

27. WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Write a short proposal (introduction, problem, objectives) concerning a
problem in your everyday life that you’d like to fix. It can be as simple
as needing to fix the sink or as large as finding out what you’re doing
with your life on a cosmic level.
Type this proposal or write it by hand. When you’re done, pair up, then
email it (or hand over the handwritten copy) to one of your peers. That
peer should then email (or hand over their handwritten copy) to you.
Revise the proposal on a structural level using track changes. Do the
paragraphs flow? Is the purpose of the piece clear? Leave comments
and markup in the final piece.
Save the file and email it to me with both partners’ names on it. If you
handwrote it, hand revised copy to me.