Writing Quick Start: Revising Content and Organization
9
Revising Content and Organization
IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN TO
- ask key questions to revise,
- work with your classmates to revise,
- use your instructor comments to revise, and
- consider your learning style when revising.
WRITING QUICK START
L
ooking at the photograph on this page from top to bottom, list everything that is happening. Now, write a few sentences summarizing what you think is happening, and then add details to your original list to describe the photo more fully. After you add these details, will it be easier for a reader who has not seen the photo to picture what is happening in it?
Exchange papers with a classmate and examine how your classmate organized ideas and what details he or she included. Look for parts that you find confusing and that need more detail. Write down your comments for your classmate. Finally, using your own comments and those of the classmate who examined your list, make changes to improve your own description of the photograph.
When you changed your list, did you include more details from the photo? Leave some unimportant details out? Change or rearrange any details? If so, you revised the description of the photo. Revision is a process of making changes to improve what your essay says and how you say it. Revising an essay works in much the same way as the revision of your list did. As Figure 9.1 shows, revision is an essential part of the writing process.
