When I revise my work, I imagine myself sketching a picture. The ideas and the general sketch is not bad, but adding more streaks and erasing some line can help perfect the sketch, and might possibly change the look of the entire picture. Whenever I write for a class, I almost always get feedback from either peers or the teacher, or both. I really like the fact that other people can see a point that I didn’t see, and that expanding that factor can further perfect my work. I know that I am not required to take the critics’ advice, but I almost always does because the feedback that I get always gives me that light bulb in the head, and I would always say to myself “Why didn’t I think about that?” I think the difference between revising and editing and proofreading is that revising is more about arranging the idea of how the paper goes, editing is the matter of making sure the information cited is correct, and proofreading is to change the grammatical errors.
In terms of my views about the Dethier article, I agree about his reasons why people don’t like revisions. Especially on number 6, when it says “Revision is a sign of failure, and criticism a personal affront.” Even though I never though of revision of this way, I do see people struggling on letting people see their work. There are times when I write thing that I don’t want people to know or look at, like my journal, but in academic writing, I had always feel that feedback is an opportunity for others to tell you their points of view on a situation you are writing about, or on their interpretations of your work.
