ENGL&101 (Jewell) – Radical Revision
Due Friday December 6 in class. Late submissions will not be accepted.
When we began this class, I told you I wanted to help you find your own process, and that part of that would be forcing you to try on
process steps like revision. In fact, as we have engaged more difficult writing tasks like the Analysis and Synthesis essays, we have
allowed more time to focus on revision. For our final project of the quarter, we are going to revisit revision one last time with the
Radical Revision.
A radical revision asks you to return to one of the essays you wrote this quarter (for this project, you may choose either
Problem/Solution or Analysis) and make significant changes. It will not be enough to merely respond to my comments and tighten up
the essay; I am asking that you develop the essay further and consider changes in thesis, audience, focus, and structure. Note that the
minimum page length for this assignment is longer than the original essays, so you will have to add to and develop your ideas and
support.
Some of the things you might consider in your radical revision:
Audience – This is particularly useful for the Problem/Solution essay, but could also apply to Analysis. If you changed the target
audience for the essay, how would that change its form and tone? Might it change the content in terms of what kind of information is
most important for this new audience?
Focus – How would a shift in focus change the power and impact of the essay? If you tended toward a static, five-paragraph essay,
can you choose the strongest idea as the new focus and create a progressive essay?
Rebuttals – In your original essay, did you sufficiently address alternate viewpoints? Can you make your argument stronger by
addressing rebuttals more explicitly?
Missed Opportunities – Were there ideas that you approached or touched on but did not fully explore? Were there interesting places
you could have taken the discussion but did not?
Note that we will not be doing a peer review for this project, but you will all be meeting with me for one-on-one conferences the week
of November 25. The purpose of this assignment is to show how well you understand the revision process, and its potential to not just
improve an essay, but to take it in an entirely new direction. 4 pages, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman, 1” margins. Please
include your name, the date, and your class section in the upper left hand corner of the first page. All essays should include a title and
must use MLA citations of referenced work.
Grading Rubric
Process (previous final draft, proper format)
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Arguable thesis
Effective argument
Significant, thoughtful, appropriate revisions
TOTAL
10 pts
10 pts
20 pts
30 pts
30 pts
100 pts
ENGL&101 (Jewell) – Reflective Commentary
2 pages, typed, 12 pt Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1” margins
Emailed or delivered by Monday December 9 at 1pm. Late submissions will not be accepted.
In this class, we have talked at length about purpose, both as intention and as the guiding force behind product, and the writing
process. At this point I ask you to step back from that writing for the same reasons athletes watch game films and performers solicit
feedback: to view what you have done and reflect on it so you can become a better “performer.”
Following are points for you to consider in drafting and developing your reflective essay. You do not have to use all or any of them.
They are here to help you think about presenting your writing and learning in this essay form. Things you might wish to consider:
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What have you learned about the writing process and what skills or habits are you still working to master?
What choices have you made as a writer in the drafting and revision processes?
How do you see yourself as a reader, writer, and thinker after English 101?
What elements of the course helped your writing the most? What parts didn’t help you understand writing with greater
expertise?
The reflective essay testifies to your skill and awareness as a writer just as much as your revised essays do. It is important to highlight
the concepts you’ve learned, the different kinds of writing and thinking you did, the very experience of being in this course as ways of
segmenting and sequencing this essay. Persona becomes much more visible in a reflective essay like this because you are writing
about yourself (think back to the different personas represented by the writers in our sample essays). But writing only to your
instructor traps you into “proving” what you have learned instead of communicating your knowledge and experience to a reader. So
while you want to appear thoughtful and informed about your own writing and the properties of academic prose, the purpose of the
reflective essay is not to strike a pose to convince your teacher how smart he is but to show others what you understand about
academic writing and your own practice of it. Flattery or excessive self-criticism can get in the way of your own analysis of what you
have written and learned in English 101.