REVISIONSHow to give relevant and useful feedback

Drew Dondelinger

You should always revise your work before turning it in, even if it’s “just” a rough draft.

When and Who to Revise

Revise any work you plan to turn in, or share. However don’t revise immediately after finishing a draft. Always allow time to step back from your work before going back in and revising.

Revise your work as if you were a third party, the easiest way to do this is to read your work out loud so you can hear if what you are trying to say is being portrayed clearly.Revise others’ work with the attitude as if it was your own, in the fact that the most important part of revising is actually caring.

Revising Tips

Revising doesn’t mean editing don’t go through looking for typos or spelling and grammar mistakesRevising should be used to make the piece better. Don’t be afraid to suggest, or make, changes. Pieces are not perfect the first time and every time you revise a piece it should get better

Revising Tips

Questions to Guide you

Who is the author’s audience Does the author address his/her audience

effectively What is the author’s argument/hypothesis What type of argument is the author making, and

for what purpose What is the author’s evidence for his argument Is the piece focused and efficient on the authors

goal(s)

Question to Guide You

Think as a 3rd party reader, with no prior knowledge of the subject

Is it clear to you what the author is saying How can the material be presented clearer Does the author convince/persuade you Was this an interesting/new concept to you Did the piece excited you, did you enjoy reading

it, or did you fall asleep

Change

You may be an excellent writer and write a great piece the first time out of the gate, but there is always room for improvement.

A piece should change, often dramatically, from your first draft to the final day

Take a moment and skim/read these two pieces written by a student the first is a rough draft and the second is a final

Draft Final

Differences

Some editing was done (flow, structure, spelling, etc) but the biggest difference was in the overall feeling of the paper. The second piece is much more clear and to the point. The first draft left the reader wondering exactly what the author was looking for or trying to argue, because of a poorly defined hypothesis and other useless filling information that led readers off track from the main idea.

Once the hypothesis was more clearly defined the overall piece reads much more focused.

Differences

The first thing I did in revision was wait. Wait at least a day before you revise your own work, then read the piece out loud, reading out loud extrapolates mistakes and makes them very easy to pick out. Also when I read out loud it helps to understand and/or correct the flow of your paper, if you stumble over your words reading it, I guarantee someone else will struggle with what you are trying to say as well. I personally have this problem a lot and use the reading out loud method to try and assist that crutch.

Sample Paper

Example Project

Take this sample paper and go through and suggest revisions to the author. Specifically focus on the authors argument and his focus on his argument. There are no right or wrong answers here, your goal is to help the author better his project.

Questions to Guide You

Decide if the author’s argument needs clarifying

Analyze the flow and reasoning behind the author’s argument

Does the author need a clear cut conclusion Does the piece work from broad to specific

or vice versa How could the author be more convincing What other suggestions do you have for the

author to improve his paper

Things to Remember

Care (whether your partner’s or yours), if you don’t care you wont be a beneficial resource

Revising isn’t editing, change the piece not fix sentences

Revising is meant to make the piece better

Revise anything you plan to turn in

Always read from an outsiders point of view