You did it! You submitted the first draft of your Research-Driven Writing Project. You got some feedback from peers, you got some feedback from me (hopefully!). You have, no doubt, thought more about it (even a little bit!) since you turned it in.
Now it is time to start planning (and start doing) revision.
As with the Literacy Narrative and Rhetorical Analysis assignments, I’m going to ask you to consider (but not require you to submit) a Revision Plan.
Here are those guidelines for formulating this plan:
- It’s about love!!!! Ask yourself: What do you love about this piece? What do you want to return to and work on more? Why? Choose “love” and not “well, this was bad” or “well, this was pretty good.” Instead, what did you enjoy working on most? What is the most exciting part of this text? Why? How do you build off of that? Or, what about this text, generally, interests you the most? There will always be moments where you’ll have to revise something you don’t want to ever look at again. Still, even for something you rather not look at again (which will happen to you), finding something that attracts you to it, something that can make it a positive experience, will both motivate you and also help you to identify its strength.
- Let yourself be guided. How can you let that excitement and energy guide you? What enhances that energy? What takes away from that energy?
- Hear out others (including yourself). Part of (but not ONLY) what should inform you is the feedback you have received previously: my comments on your draft, peer response feedback, your old notes as you were working on the draft, etc.
- Task list. Begin to develop some tasks that can assist you in addressing the above. (e.g., revise this paragraph, move this section up earlier and adjust it so it fits, add this supporting argument, do this analysis and see where it takes me, do more research for secondary sources). Consider what YOU want to do with the piece and the comments you received from others.
- Be specific. As you write out your tasks, you MUST be specific. Why are you doing this task? As in, what about your writing has led you to think you should do x to enhance the essay overall? How will you do this task? As in, what specifically do you have in mind as some potential changes that would work to address the “why” of the task you chose. For example: I will add more secondary sources to support the claim I make in paragraph 4, I need to show a more cohesive transition between section 3 and 4, my argument is too broad so I need to be more specific about the limits of my argument when I make the main argument early on, I want to incorporate my lessons on style to many of sentences that are a little harder to read.
- Be a planner. Finally, if helpful, begin to develop a schedule of when and how you will work on your revision. Revision (or any aspect of writing!) benefits from work that is spread out rather than work that happens all at once. A fresh mind is an asset. Backwards plan. “This is due 12/3, what do I need done by 11/25? By 11/29? By 12/1? Etc.”.
- Are there new constraints or affordances to consider? Are there new things you have to consider now? For instance, do you need to more closely consider the documentation style, macro-structure, genre, integration of sources, etc.?
Eventually, I encourage you to address all 8 of the below questions, but, for now, just comment below with responses to 3 of the below questions or instructions.
- What do you love about this piece? What do you want to return to and work on more? Why? Choose “love” and not “well, this was bad” or “well, this was pretty good.” Instead, what did you enjoy working on most? What is the most exciting part of this text? Why? How do you build off of that? Or, what about this text, generally, interests you the most?
- What feedback will you incorporate do you think? Why?
- How will you enhance or add analysis to your draft?
- What might be a change to your thesis?
- What are some changes that you’ll make to make it fit the genre of the blog post through the medium of online writing?
- What about your word choice and sentence structure? How will you revise your style in a way that best fits what you want to do in your piece and in ways your audience would appreciate?
- Write out ALL of the specific tasks you will take based on: what you love, the feedback you got, and other considerations. Be SPECIFIC.
- What is your schedule for getting this done? Consult your writing schedule that you hopefully kept up with (even if in spirit if not quite by pen/paper/computer)
After commenting below, click the button to continue the module.
3. I will try to enhance my draft by correcting all major mistakes and working to expand on unclear analysis and find more important information from my sources
2. The feedback that I was given will be vital in fixing all of the mistakes that I made and allowed me to see things that I myself would not have been able to recognize
8. I will be likely breaking it down on a every other day basis for working on my draft and taking it slow to make sure I am doing the best work possible.
I love how I have improved overall as a writer, and how that shows in this piece. I did a decent job at backing up my claims with evidence and many outside sources. I would like to write a bit more and refine my thoughts, however, as I feel I wrote down everything on my mind without enough structure. I am completing this task in order to become an even better writer and improve in some areas. I believe that with more practice and by working on a research-based paper such as this one, I can improve in many areas within my writing and learn how to use sources to my advantage.
1. Something I liked about my research paper is the connection I was able to make between the sources. It was pretty exciting seeing how all the pieces of information complemented each other to build my text.
5. I am probably going to change my citation style from MLA to APA. I was lowkey planning to do this but I think it was a better idea to do my first draft in MLA.
6. Something I will be revising and changing is going to be some over repeated words I used and sentence structure wich I didn’t prioritize on this draft.
1. I enjoyed writing in the problem-solution format. It gave me a new perspective on writing and a change which is always nice.
3. I hope to add more proof and data into my essay in order to enhance my analysis. Whether this is by finding new sources or by finding more information in the ones I have.
8. I hope to get this done over thanksgiving break, so I can give myself some time to revise it again.
1. I loved that I got to include more research details as compared to previous drafts.
2. I will try introduce authors and their professional details before quoting them
3. I will define the solution in a more detailed manner to make the analysis more reflective of the topic under discussion.
1) I would say I enjoyed writing this paper the most. I got to explore a topic that could be beneficial in my life and that I genuinely like to read about. I related very well to the sources I incorporated and I believe I did a good job in expressing them in my paper.
6) When revising my paper, I am going to check for my word choice and sentence use. It is possible that in some areas I could have sounded repetitive. My plan is to reread the paper and make it simpler to understand for an audience.
8) My schedule has greatly changed since I last spoke about it. Life has been much more hectic so the plan is to revise whenever I get the chance and utilize my time wisely.
1. Something that I loved about this paper was that after writing one paragraph, I would be asking myself, “why?” or, “what does this mean?” or, “why does this matter?” These questions really guided me as I wrote, and it helped me learn more about things that I didn’t even realize I didn’t know.
2. I will definitely be incormprating the feedback about my conclusion that you gave. I will try to give it more substance so that it doesn’t just sound like I’m restating things I’ve already said.
3. To add better analysis into my draft, I will try to incorporate some more scholarly sources when I am presenting my evidence.
1. What I love about this piece is how much I learned in the process of writing it. I really love that by writing this I am teaching myself and whoever reads it.
6. I think I will try using a problem-solution format. I really think that it is the most effective for my topic considering a lot of it is facts.
8. My hope is to do 90 minutes of writing/brainstorming every other day. It doesn’t have to be just me and my paper but just thinking about my paper in general and trying new formats.
4. First I need to do some more research on US government regulation on social media and news agencies. It’s definitely a hot-button issue so at least there’s a lot of material.
5. I’m going to try to work on paragraphing and other techniques to enhance readability. Perhaps I’ll use some pictures to draw the audience in, even embed links to my references.
8. I really messed up with my initial schedule but I think it would be good to spend time every session on expanding different sections because I have the outline and subtopics mostly defined with the main points that I want to emphasize.
2. The feedback that I plan on working on is the stretch between some of my ideas and how that is making my paper lose focus.
3. I plan on elaborating on the image of Muslims in the media and focusing on the effect it has on Muslims rather than the Sunni-Shia divide.
4. I plan on changing my thesis to focus on the effects of propaganda on Muslim Americans.