Summary of Joseph Harris’s “Revising” The chapter “Revising” taken from the book, originally published in 2006, Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts, was written by Joseph Harris, an English professor who teaches at the University of Delaware. The chapter in his book that is titled “Revising,” suggests techniques and approaches to apply when revising one’s work and tackles common misconceptions on revision. Harris defines revising as, “ rethinking, refining, and developing” a piece of work ( 441). He uses these three words to encompass the importance and complexity of one word: revision. Putting revision into context, Harris begins by addressing the 3 stages of writing: drafting, revising, and editing (Harris 443). To best exemplify the drafting process, Harris uses an excerpt from Stephen King’s book, Misery, to extract three tips that aid in formulating a draft: seize hold of any passing ideas, utilize patience and boredom for coming up with ideas, and work through writer's blocks rather than rely on sudden inspiration (Harris 444). …show more content…
Another revision technique that was suggested was “sentence outlining” which involves summarizing each paragraph of a writing into one overarching sentence in order to improve the cohesion of the piece (Harris 450). Introducing these techniques can allow readers to utilize revision in their own writing and form their own stance on its effectiveness. With revising the conclusion of a piece, Harris’ advise is to look ahead rather than to rephrase what has already been stated (Harris 454). Revision is expected to extend beyond the piece. Harris used outside sources as examples to support his claim on the importance of the revision process and also provided readers with techniques in order to help them develop and refine their revision
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for coherence. Foley shows that patterns of organization and more natural thinking can benefit the student.
Writing as a Re-Vision. Eds. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1996.
Writing is no easy task: transforming intricate ideas in your mind to coherent, limpid sentences is no simple feat. And even when you think you are finished with a piece of writing, you can always improve it. Which is why my analysis of The Wife Speaks by Elizabeth Stoddard, which I earned a 7 on, requires revisions on numerous aspects: my lengthy, garrulous thesis, and--most importantly--the analysis of the poem itself, which is cursory and superficial. Right off the bat, I noticed that my thesis, which comprises five-lines by itself, obscures my argument due to its incoherence.
When doing a revision, I like to print out a hard copy and re-read it and if it makes sense to me I will have several members of my family or my friends read it. They always seem to help because they are unaware of what I am writing about, so they will ask questions and I can always add more into the paper to make the audience aware of what is my
This assignment is a testament of growth and contributed to my outlook on strategies towards improving my writing through the importance of understanding how crucial, each component of the writing process is and how in depth you should take each process. Lastly, this reflection advocated how editing is the principal task of every good writer. “To write is human, to edit is divine,” Stephen
Similar to my “one and done” mentality, my lack of revision on my writing pieces is because of meer laziness. Revision is in fact very important because it offers you the chance to look at your writing pieces from a critical perspective. It allows you to analyze all of your points and change anything that needs to be changed for the better. In Shitty First Drafts, I like how Anne Lamott describes this process as dental work. She says, “check every tooth, to see if it 's loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy”. This sums up revision in an very alternative and pictorial way. Lamott and Shirley Rose would see eye to eye in the subject of revision because in All Writers Have More To Learn, Rose discusses what I conveyed to be a form of revising called Externalization. Rose states that Externalization allows the writer to see how clearly it reads, what it is conveying, and if it can be improved in any way. In conversation I feel Kathleen Yancey would introduce a similar yet interesting outlook on revising to Rose and Lamott because in Learning to Write Effectively Requires Different Kinds of Practice, Time and Effort, Yancey illustrates revision in the form of seeing if what you wrote was what you thought you were writing and the question of if it will fit with the perception of the audience. I thought that this was a pretty interesting outlook for Yancey to develop in the context of
LeBeau, Sue, (2007). The Writing Process. Retrieved 23 Oct 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.suelebeau.com/writingprocess.htm
I. The three Bruce Ballenger’s “Revision Strategies” that I have chosen on my writing are Problems with Information: 13.11 Explode a Moment, Problems with Information: 13.14 Backing Up Your Assumptions and Problems of Clarity: 13.24 Actors and Actions.
The article begins with the claim from the movie Adaptation that, "adaptation is a profound process, which means you try and figure out how to thrive in the world" (443). While the authors acknowledge that the context of the film might give the impression of this being an ironic statement, in truth the opposite is true: adaptation really is pivotal to the continued survival of a narrative. The manifest problem with adaptation theory, according to Bortolotti and Hutcheon is the tendency of critics to judge adaptations as good or bad based upon the level of fidelity they maintain with the source text. Altering a source text is not a bad thing -- it is necessary. Bortolotti and Hutcheon both describe transformation of source texts as, "a common and persistent way that humans have always told and retold stories" (444). Critic Thomas Leitch agrees with this judgment and states, "every text offers itself as an invitation to be re-written" (16).
According to Donald M. Murray’s essay The Maker’s Eye, revising a work of writing is an essential procedure a writer goes through in order to achieve the final draft. As other professional writers have mentioned, “writing is rewriting” each draft, which serves as an opportunity to rebuild the work that feels perhaps sketchy. In his essay, Murray incorporates the experiences of authors: Peter F. Drucker, Ray Bradbury, John Ciardi, Eleanor Estes, and others to assert the importance of the revising and editing process in works of writing. Given these points, Murray divides his essay into three main sections: which are becoming the enemy of our first draft, using audience and information from the seven elements of writing, and lastly finding the
“Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer” by Carol Berkenkotter presents an account of conducted research on the writing methods of professional, published writer Donald M. Murray. Berkenkotter conducts an experiment to understand how writers use certain writing methods, specifically revision of their work, by paying close attention to the setting in which the writer works, the kinds of tasks the writer is faced with, and what the writer can say about his or her own writing process. Contrary to previous experiments, she focuses solely on professional writer Donald M. Murray and allows him to work in a natural, as opposed to lavatory, setting. Murray is allowed an unlimited amount of time to write, spanning within
The introduction to Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts was interesting because it emphasized how writers writing about other works should go beyond what is blantly written by the author and interpret the piece in their own way. Joseph Harris, the author, begins to explain the importance of a writer “to say something new and say it well”, which is different from what many of my past English teachers would tell me how to
In an excerpt from “The Process of Writing: Cooking” (Writing without Teachers, 1976), Peter Elbow shares his two-step freewriting method he learned to help him move past the fog of doubt caused by writer’s block. He sympathized with the reader and offered the advice to write indiscriminately, recognize the symptoms of encroaching panic, and redirect when necessary. Lastly, he explained how he could then assemble a mess of words into one idea while avoiding unnecessary frustrations. Then, typically, he would have reserved enough strength to edit constructively.
In the beginning of English 101 I was what you call a novice writer a person who only wrote what they felt was required. However, certain techniques that I learned in English 101 made me realize that writing was not about filling requirements; it’s about speaking out, exploring and proving a point. “Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” (Trimble, 17) In John Trimble’s quote he tries to point out that writing is something that you grow with and learn as you go along. I believe this growth was achieved with a technique that was introduced to me by my professor called repetitive revision. What I found out was that revision of your essays helps in recognizing your mistakes and enhances the flow of your essays. By providing me...
In my narrative essay I changed multiple errors throughout the paper along with adding more information. I started revising my essay by identifying that I need to change the point of view. I need to transform second person pronouns like “you” to first person pronouns like “we” and “I”. I strived to improve a list of grammatical errors as well throughout my paper. Finally, I need to add more dialogue and clarified my introduction paragraph to improve my essay. After re-reading my essay and identifying what I needed to correct, I started fixing my errors to improve my work.