Revising the College Essay
WRITING IS REVISING
Prepared by Dr. Amy Berry Assistant Professor Southwestern Minnesota State University 9/17/2011
RE-VISION: Seeing the Essay Again, Through Fresh
Eyes
 College writers write multiple drafts and revise the
entire essay or large sections of the essay for higher
order writing concerns of meaning, structure, logical
development, and concrete support of ideas and
assertions
 Revising the college essay is far more than simple
editing for grammar and word choice
 College essays must say something important and
meaningful. Deep Revision helps to ensure that the
essay SAYS SOMETHING INTERESTING AND
WORTHWHILE
Summary: Deep Revision
 College writers focus on higher order concerns—
meaning, support, structure, clarity, logic. Revising
for high order concerns is Deep Revision. College
professors expect this
 Deep Revision requires revising the entire essay or
large sections of the essay
 Deep Revision requires a critical, objective review of
your writing. Stepping back and taking a clear and
unemotional view is essential
Surface Revision
 College writing should be free of grammar, word
choice, spelling, and punctuation errors. College
professors have low tolerance for error
 Surface Revision is important, but secondary to Deep
revision
Real Revision is More than Editing
 Most of us who compose on a computer understand
revision as an ongoing, even constant process. Every time
you hit the delete button, every time you cut and paste,
every time you take out a comma or exchange one word
for another, you're revising.
 But real revision is more than making a few changes here
and there. Real revision requires that you open yourself
up to the possibility that parts of your paper -- and even
your entire paper -- might need to be re-thought, and rewritten
Cultivate The College Writer’s Mindset
 College writers pay attention to their writing process
 Studies have shown again and again that the best
way to learn to write is to rewrite. In the revision
process, you improve your reading skills and your
analytical skills. You learn to challenge your own
ideas, thus deepening and strengthening your
argument. You learn to find the weaknesses in your
writing. You may even discover patterns of error or
habits of organization that are undermining your
papers.
Revision is More than Making A Few Changes
Here and there
 There are two kinds of Revising: Deep Revision and
Surface Revision
 Deep Revision is the writer’s real work. You will review
your essay to assess the quality of its meaning. Does it
say something of value? Can the reader understand what
you are trying to say? Is the thesis clear? Is supporting
information presented in an orderly, logical, and
understandable way? Do the ideas presented hold
together? Is what you say important enough to make the
reader care about the topic? Have you convinced the
reader to agree with your thesis or opinion? These
elements are called Higher Order Writing Concerns
Deep Revision: Fry the Big Fish First
 Deep Revision for meaning, reasoning, definition of terms,
and factual detail
 Real revision is Whole Essay Revision. Deep revision
addresses higher order concerns of thesis, meaning, structure,
supporting detail, and logic. This kind of revision involves
looking at the entire paper for places where your thinking
seems to need clarification, or where the thesis needs
additional development and supporting details. You might
need to provide more specific and concrete evidence, define
terms, or add an entirely new step to your reasoning. You
might decide to restructure or rewrite your paper completely
if you discover a new idea that intrigues you, or a structure
that seems to be more effective than the one you've been
using.
Cutting and Rewriting
 Be prepared to cut out parts of the essay that don’t
work and be ready to write new sections to develop
your ideas in a deep and detailed way
 This may be difficult, but cutting less successful
sections of the paper will pay off in the long run
College Teachers Expect Deep Revision
 College professors expect to see Deep Revision as you
write multiple drafts, and expect to see changes in
meaning, supporting paragraphs, and supporting
details as you develop your essay through multiple
drafts. Do not expect to write a rough draft and
submit it as your final draft, and do not expect that
simply proofreading and correcting grammar and
word choice will satisfy the revision requirement.
Deep Revision for One Section of the Paper
 Deep Revision a smaller scale needs to happen when
you know that a certain part of your paper isn't
working. Maybe the introduction needs work. Maybe
one part of the argument seems weak. Once you've
located the problem, you'll focus on revising that one
section of your paper. When you are finished you will
want to reconsider your paper as a whole to make
sure that your revisions work in the context of the
entire paper
 Taking care of the Big Fish will improve the essay
and possibly your final grade
Surface Revision: The Small Fry
 Writing an excellent essay only to have surface errors
stand in the way is useless
 Once you have taken care of the Big Fish, you should
concentrate on proofreading and editing to create an
error-free text for your reader to enjoy
 Eliminating surface errors--grammar, word choice,
spelling, and punctuation—is essential to success in
college writing
 Many professors have a zero-tolerance policy for
surface errors
Surface Revision: Editing
 Editing. Too often students confuse editing with
revision. They are not the same processes. Editing is
the process of finding minor problems with a text -problems that might easily be fixed by deleting a
word or sentence, cutting and pasting a paragraph,
and so on. When you edit, you are considering your
reader. You might be happy with how you've written
your paper, but will your reader find your paper
clear, readable, interesting? How can you rewrite the
paper so that it is clearer, more concise, and, most
important of all, a pleasure to read?
Proofreading
 Proofreading. When you proofread you are looking for
lower order mistakes in your paper. Common mistakes
caught in proofreading are punctuation errors, spelling
errors, subject-verb agreement, its/it's confusion,
their/there confusion, and so on. When you proofread,
you need to slow down your reading, allowing your eye to
focus on every word, every phrase of your paper. Reading
aloud can help you slow down, pointing your attention to
errors that have gone unseen. Also, USE YOUR SPELL
CHECK. Professors are less forgiving of spelling errors
and typos than they were before the invention of this very
helpful tool. College readers--and your teacher in this
course--require grammatical and sentence-structure
correctness and have little tolerance for error.
Deep Revision and Surface Revision are Important
 The very best writers will revise in all the ways listed here.
To manage these various levels of revision, it's very
important that you get an early start on your papers so that
you have time to make any substantive, large-scale
revisions that your paper might need. Good writers also
understand that revision is an ongoing process, not
necessarily something that you do only after your first draft
is complete.
Objectivity
 The best college writers can step back and review
their writing objectively.
 Developing the ability to review your own writing
with a clear and critical eye requires you to step away
from owning the essay. You must be cool and
manage your ownership feelings
 Plan ahead, start writing early, and you will have
some time to create this healthy distance from the
essay
Distance
 The first step in gaining objectivity is to get some
distance from your work. If you've planned your
writing process well, you'll have left yourself a day or
two to take a break from your work. If you don't have
this luxury, even an hour of air hockey or a walk over
to pick up a hard copy of your draft might be enough
to clear your head. Many writers find that their mind
keeps working on their papers even while their
attention is turned elsewhere. When they return to
their work, they bring with them a fresh perspective.
They also bring a more open, more detached mind.
Does the Paper Meet My Expectations—and My
Professor’s??
 When you return to your paper, the first thing that
you'll want to do is to consider whether or not the
paper as a whole meets your (and your professor's)
expectations. Read the paper through without
stopping (don't get hung up on that troublesome
second paragraph).
Then, Ask Yourself These Questions:
 Did I fulfill the assignment?
 Did I say what I intended to say?
 What are the strengths of my paper?
 What are the weaknesses of my paper?
 Do I need another revision? Is there enough time to
review and revise well?
Writer, Know Thyself
 Getting to know yourself as a writer is an important
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step
Start writing your assignments early, and make sure
you have enough time to review and revise the essay
Spend time to reflect on your experience in writing
the paper. Metacognitive monitoring matters!
What sections of the paper are most successful?
What steps did you take in writing the successful
sections? What writing processes did you use?
What sections are weak? What processes did you
use? What changes will improve the process?
Review and Be Reviewed
 Find a writing partner. Ask them to review your
paper and give you reader feedback on its strengths
and weaknesses
 Review their papers and provide feedback.
Reviewing the work of others helps you to
understand and improve your own writing