Webb1 Re‐Visioning Your Essays Suzanne Webb You need 1) your essay 2) sheet of blank paper or fresh Word doc 3) patience as this exercise requires you re‐read your essay several times. NOTE: Each time you are looking for something different. FIRST REVISE IDEAS Read through your paper … quickly. Without referring back to the essay, write down your main point or your purpose. Do this in one sentence. Check it against the thesis in your essay. If you had trouble writing down your purpose, your paper may be going in several directions. So… Read through the paper again. This time, underlining or copying down sentences that seem to state purpose. Now try to combine these sentences into one statement. If this works, you can probably use this statement as your new thesis. If this doesn’t work, you have enough ideas for several papers and you need to divide your essay into parts (Bauman 126). Now, read your essay’s main idea for honesty and freshness. In other words, read through your paper as your reader will. What will confuse them? What points will they deny? What have you left out that will be important? SECOND REVISE DETAILS Read your paper again. This time you are looking for details. Are they vivid and convincing? Your paper should have examples, descriptions, facts. Keep in mind that your reader is hungry for facts, quotes, examples, etc. Feed the reader details! THIRD REVISE ORGANIZATION This time, skim the paper by reading just the main sentences. Jot down the main ideas from these sentences (as headings in an outline perhaps). Check that each paragraph sticks to one idea. Check your transitions. Do you move the reader smoothly from one paragraph (idea) to the next? Do you use “on the other hand” … or “another reason …” If there are a lot of short, yet related paragraphs, see if you can combine them. If you have long paragraphs, think about breaking them into two shorter ones. This also shows you if you’re paper is scattered. Bauman says to make sure every sentence points at the same target. Now, look at your intro and your conclusion. Is your main point consistent in both? Bauman says, “If not, scream, and then revise” (127). FORTH Webb2 REVISE WORD USE Now that you know which sentences and which paragraphs are staying, now is the time to think about polishing your words. • Do you repeat the same words? • Are you concise? • Are you bland? • Substitute VERBS and NOUNS for adjectives as often as possible. • Eliminate “very” and “so” • Eliminate words that are associated with casual style and are generally found in • conversation. Example: “You know,” “well,” “now” • Faulty Sentence: I think that medical doctors should be required to complete communication skills courses. Corrected Sentence: Medical doctors could better benefit their clients by completing a required communication skills course. • Faulty Sentence: When you read Hamlet, you should notice clear foreshadowing of events to transpire. Corrected Sentence: When reading Hamlet, readers may notice clear foreshadowing of events to transpire. • Faulty Sentence: You can tell the author is really into women’s rights by her portrayal of feminist heroines. Corrected Sentence: The author’s portrayal of feminist heroines suggests a subjective connection with the women’s rights movement (Writing Style). FIFTH READ ALOUD When trying to find the voice in a paper, listen to the paper being read by another person and evaluate the appropriateness of the voice given the intended audience. Put yourself in the position of the audience. Does the writer sound informed? Believable? (Writing Style). Reading aloud also lets you find many mistakes. You will hear when a sentence is difficult to read aloud, it will likely be difficult for the reader to read (and thus to “get.”). Also, many typos will show themselves during a read‐aloud. Read to your Mom, your dog, the window, the mirror. It doesn’t matter who/where you read‐‐‐just read these aloud! SIXTH REVISE MECHANICS Now it’s time to check for grammar, punctuation, tense, etc. Bauman says that the deadly errors are the ones that you make regularly but don’t see. Then/than. Misspellings that are still words so your spell checker doesn’t “see” them (these are often easiest to catch when you read aloud). Bauman says to “check any word you wouldn’t risk in a $1000 bet” (128). Sounds reasonable to me ☺ Webb3 Works Cited Bauman, M. Garrett. Ideas & Details: A Guide to College Writing. 6th Ed. 2007. Thomson Wadsworth. “Writing Style; Academic Voice.” WCTR\handouts\Writing Style‐Acadmeic Voice.doc Prepared for the Sam Houston Writing Center Last printed 9/28/2004 2:05:00 PM. Accessed 3‐4‐2009.