Revising Attitudes

What do you think of when you imagine “revising” your writing?

When I think of revising, I imagine myself looking over my paper and changing any grammatical errors or adding things to make my writing better. I’m often surprised by how many mistakes I have made while looking over my writing and it’s easy for me to see how I can improve it just by reading it over.

Write about a time you revised something you wrote: what was your process like and what did you gain (if anything) from the process?

 

In this class I have experienced a lot of revising. I have had drafts due and my classmates and professor have revised my work to help me improve. After receiving my paper back, I had to revise my own work and gain insight about how I could make it better.

What’s the difference between revising, editing, and proofreading? (Hint: think of these as “layers” of the writing process.) What’s your response to Brock Dethier’s piece on revision? Describe your response to the resistances to revision he discusses on pages 2 and 3, especially specific ones you may agree with and why you agree with them.

Revising is rereading the work you have done to improve your knowledge on the subject or to better your work. Editing is making sure your final piece doesn’t include any grammatical errors or other errors. Proof Reading is reading over your work.

I agree with Brock Dethier. He discusses how people have to change their attitudes when it comes to revision and this is true. Many people think that revising is pointless but it’s something that can improve your writing greatly; it could be the difference between failing an assignment or passing it. He creates a list of eight ways people view revision, almost all of them are negative and he proves how each of them is wrong.

One of the points that stood out to me was number six, it states:

6. Revision is a sign of failure, and criticism a personal affront.
Because of such feelings, it’s difficult for some writers to see that for most of us revision is the only road to success.

This relates to me because I always find myself annoyed when I see all of the mistakes I made especially when I receive my grade. I always think to myself, what if I would revised more? Would I have received a better grade? I don’t like revision because I feel like it points out all the flaws in my writing but in the end it helps.