Revision Worksheet
Consult this worksheet after each essay you submit!
Have you ever finished writing an essay, looked at your work, and asked yourself, “What
on earth was I thinking when I did this?” Imagine if you could look over your own
shoulder while you were writing your essay. How would you judge yourself as a writer?
Would you change your approach in any material way?
Revision, or "re-visioning," is such an important part of the writing process that we
encourage you to revise each essay you write at least once. Use this worksheet in
conjunction with the revision tools that are available to you in the application, such as the
MY Tutor feedback, MY Editor feedback, and Revision Goals. Together, these tools are
designed to help you begin to think more consciously about your writing.
Even as you revise and edit your writing throughout this course, don’t lose sight of the
bigger challenges that this worksheet encourages you to think about. The more you
practice thinking consciously and deliberately about your writing, the more focused
you’ll become as a writer. Eventually, you’ll find yourself making better decisions while
you’re writing instead of after you have finished!
Revision Strategies
1. Peer Review of Expository or Persuasive Writing
Ask a trusted friend, colleague, or instructor to review your essay. Make a list of the
specific elements you want this person to look for. Here are some guidelines for your
reader to follow:
9 Read the essay once without making any comments on paper.
9 Read the essay a second time and highlight the following components:
o Green: Thesis Statement
o Red: Topic Sentences
o Blue: Supporting Details
o Orange: Concluding Statement
9 Then, answer the following questions:
o Is the thesis statement specific and clear? Does the body of the essay
support it? If not, where does it go astray?
o Does each paragraph have a clear topic sentence and specific, accurate,
and relevant supporting details?
o Is there any point in the essay where you were confused? Mark this part
of the essay and suggest how the author could clarify it.
o Are there any points in the paper that you thought were especially
effective? Underline these portions and explain to the writer why they
were so effective.
o Does the essay have an engaging conclusion?
COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Vantage Learning. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be used, accessed,
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or any retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of Vantage Learning.
Revision Worksheet
9 On a separate piece of paper, write a short summary of the essay. In addition,
include one paragraph in which you summarize the pros and cons of this author’s
writing.
2. Review of Narrative Writing
9 Walk-Away. When you are finished writing a draft, simply walk away from it for
a while. You may need an hour, a few hours, or a full day.
9 Return to your draft with a clear head and print out a copy. Read your essay out
loud. In the margin, make an outline of the major points of each paragraph in
your essay and ask yourself the following questions:
o Have I clearly introduced the characters and setting?
o Have I included enough detail to develop the plot? Did I leave out
anything important? Do I need to reorganize any of my ideas? Did I
include information that is not relevant?
o Will the reader be confused at any point?
o Is there an identifiable climax in the story?
o Does the story end in an interesting manner?
9 Next, find a friend or family member who will listen to your story with an open
mind and read your narrative to this person out loud. Ask this person to listen for
two important things:
o Does the story make sense? If not, where did he or she get confused?
o Can he or she visualize the experience you describe in the story? If not,
what more should be added to capture his or her attention?
Self-scoring & Analysis
1. Use the rubric you printed out to evaluate your own writing.
IntelliMetric® holistic score: ___________
Your evaluation: ___________
Most of the time, two scorers reading the same essay will score within one point of each
other. Do you agree or disagree with the IntelliMetric® score within one point? If not,
why did you score your essay higher or lower than IntelliMetric®?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Vantage Learning. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be used, accessed,
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or any retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of Vantage Learning.
Revision Worksheet
Defend your score. Provide a specific reason for your score using language from the
rubric:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Consider these questions about your writing:
a) What problems did you face while writing this essay?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
b) What solutions did you find for those problems?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
c) What alternative plans for this essay did you consider? Why did you reject them?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
d) If you had more time to write this essay, what would you continue to work on?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Vantage Learning. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be used, accessed,
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or any retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of Vantage Learning.
Revision Worksheet
e) Rank the following elements of your writing from 1 (most important) to 5 (least
important). What will you do to improve in your weakest area?
o
o
o
o
o
Developing your thesis
Addressing your audience
Organizing your essay
Supporting your position
Using language effectively
COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Vantage Learning. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be used, accessed,
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or any retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of Vantage Learning.