Revising and Editing - By Amenda Werner
Transcript
00:01 | revising and editing . What's the first thing that comes | |
00:06 | to mind when you think about revising a paper ? | |
00:09 | Many students will come up with responses like I hate | |
00:12 | rewriting . I already did the best that I could | |
00:14 | with my first draft , or I wait until the | |
00:17 | last minute to write my paper , so there's never | |
00:19 | time for revision . Even worse , some students see | |
00:23 | revision as a punishment for not doing well on their | |
00:26 | first draft . Well , I'm here to tell you | |
00:28 | that revision is not a punishment at all , but | |
00:31 | a crucial part of writing that shouldn't be dreaded . | |
00:34 | Ernest Hemingway revised the last page of a farewell to | |
00:37 | arms 39 times before he was happy with it 39 | |
00:42 | times . That's because most good writers used the process | |
00:46 | of revision to make improvements to their writings . In | |
00:49 | fact , most writers been significantly more time on the | |
00:53 | revision process than on the initial writing process . What | |
00:57 | you see and published textbooks , novels , poetry and | |
01:00 | almost every other type of writing is usually the result | |
01:04 | of not the writers first draft , but of careful | |
01:07 | revision through the adding , deleting , substituting and rearranging | |
01:11 | of material until it suits the writers purpose and audience | |
01:14 | as close to perfectly as possible . This should show | |
01:18 | you two things . One , even great writers air | |
01:21 | capable of bad writing and too great writers keep at | |
01:26 | it until they get it right . Revising can be | |
01:29 | very time consuming process . Writers can spend weeks , | |
01:33 | months and even years on working on revisions . This | |
01:36 | is often while you'll see multiple editions of works being | |
01:39 | published , many authors continuously find ways to improve their | |
01:43 | writings . I hope that all of you will keep | |
01:46 | this in mind and working on your own revisions this | |
01:48 | week . Try not to see the process is an | |
01:51 | annoying yet mandatory task required by your writing teachers . | |
01:55 | Instead , look at it as a chance to polish | |
01:58 | and perfect your papers . Like the pros , dio | |
02:03 | editing is also an important step of the rewriting process | |
02:07 | . Some students confused these two steps or believe them | |
02:10 | to be the same thing . Keep in mind that | |
02:12 | while revising consists of adding , deleting , substituting and | |
02:16 | rearranging material to better suit , the authors , purpose | |
02:19 | and audience editing is simply the reviewing and fixing of | |
02:23 | grammatical , mechanical and stylistic errors that may have been | |
02:28 | overlooked the first time around . While equally important , | |
02:31 | editing is typically not , as time consuming are complicated | |
02:34 | as revision . Both revising and editing typically require several | |
02:39 | different cycles . Revising a paper for form clarifying the | |
02:43 | message and reworking to reach a particular audience usually comes | |
02:48 | in the early cycles of rewriting , while the stylistic | |
02:51 | concerns of adding commas , correcting spelling errors and rewording | |
02:55 | through editing come later . Also try to remember that | |
02:59 | both of these stages don't necessarily need to be thought | |
03:01 | of as the steps that come at the end of | |
03:04 | a writing process . Many writers revise and edit as | |
03:07 | they go writing a sentence or paragraph here , then | |
03:11 | returning to revise a previous sentence or paragraph as they | |
03:14 | attempt to mold their writing to suit their purpose and | |
03:16 | audience finding grammatical mechanical errors . Along the way , | |
03:20 | however , all good writers return back to these steps | |
03:24 | again and again until they're satisfied with the end result | |
03:28 | . Though the rest of your essays in this course | |
03:30 | won't be as closely monitored for revising and editing as | |
03:33 | your first essay , it is important to set aside | |
03:36 | time for these steps and everything you write , whether | |
03:39 | you like to write quickly and heavily revised and edit | |
03:41 | later , or revise and edit as you go , | |
03:44 | leaving you with less to fix later . So how | |
03:49 | do you complete thes steps ? The suggestions presented and | |
03:53 | the rest of this video can be used to guide | |
03:55 | you through the entire rewriting stage . Keep in mind | |
03:59 | that these do not have to be followed in this | |
04:00 | particular order , but I do suggest at least trying | |
04:04 | it this way for your first attempt in future revisions | |
04:07 | . You may choose to complete some of these tasks | |
04:09 | at the same time , or you may run through | |
04:12 | each of them separately . As you become a more | |
04:14 | experienced rider , you will find the ways that work | |
04:17 | for you . You can choose to print out your | |
04:19 | draft and right revisions directly on the paper , or | |
04:23 | you can use a word processor to make your change | |
04:25 | is the most important parts of revision work to redefine | |
04:29 | in authors purpose and audience . Reassess the message , | |
04:33 | reshaped the discourse and realign their meaning with linguistic forms | |
04:41 | . Since getting your message across is the most important | |
04:44 | part of writing a paper , I suggest starting with | |
04:46 | finding the purpose first . One piece of advice I | |
04:49 | like to give my students regarding rewriting is to not | |
04:52 | try to do it all at once . Instead , | |
04:55 | I suggest doing a little revising here and there and | |
04:58 | then returning back to your work a day or two | |
05:00 | later and reading it over again . Oftentimes , you | |
05:03 | will be able to find further ways to clarify your | |
05:06 | message every time you come back to it . Another | |
05:09 | piece of advice is one I've been stressing all semester | |
05:12 | long . Have someone else read over your paper to | |
05:14 | check for clarity . Check to see if the message | |
05:17 | that they receive from your writing lines up with the | |
05:20 | message that you intended to get across . If not | |
05:23 | , ask what parts through them . Off course again | |
05:26 | , though this past week we had the benefit of | |
05:28 | a more formal peer review to get you started in | |
05:31 | this direction , you won't have this advantage with every | |
05:34 | piece you write . I highly suggest requesting your classmates | |
05:37 | or friends reviews on all of your future writings . | |
05:40 | Ah , point that you tried to make that you | |
05:43 | may have thought to be obvious , for example , | |
05:45 | may have been missed completely by your reader . Defining | |
05:50 | your audience is also important . First , think about | |
05:53 | who you are writing your paper for , then look | |
05:56 | over your paper again to get a feel for the | |
05:58 | tone that you use . Ah , paper used for | |
06:01 | entertainment purposes may sound light and cheery and may even | |
06:04 | use humor to keep its audience engaged . Ah , | |
06:07 | professional scholarly paper typically has above average readers as its | |
06:11 | audience . Here , the author is likelier to use | |
06:14 | , ah , higher level of vocabulary and diction . | |
06:17 | Whatever your audience , maybe it's important to use the | |
06:20 | tone appropriate to them and to stay consistent throughout . | |
06:23 | Here's some questions to use as the checklist when revising | |
06:27 | for your purpose and audience . What's the most important | |
06:30 | thing I want to say about my subject ? Who | |
06:33 | am I writing this paper for ? What would my | |
06:35 | reader want to know about the subject ? What does | |
06:37 | my reader already know about it ? Why do I | |
06:40 | think the subject is worth writing about ? Will my | |
06:43 | reader think the paper was worth reading ? What verb | |
06:46 | explains what I'm trying to do in this paper ? | |
06:49 | For example , tell a story . Compare X , | |
06:51 | and why describe Z etcetera after you've done your best | |
06:58 | to clarify your purpose and audience work towards reshaping your | |
07:01 | paper in a way that makes the most sense and | |
07:04 | get your message across to the reader as clearly as | |
07:06 | possible . Make an outline of your paper and check | |
07:10 | to see if the organization is still conducive to your | |
07:13 | overall purpose . Sometimes , even if you make an | |
07:16 | outline prior to writing your paper , you may find | |
07:18 | that your original structure didn't work as well as you | |
07:21 | thought it would . This step of revising consists of | |
07:24 | adding , subtracting , substituting or rearranging whole chunks of | |
07:29 | material until you come as close to perfect as you | |
07:31 | can , with the ultimate goal of getting your message | |
07:34 | across to the reader as clearly as possible concerning overall | |
07:39 | organization . Ask yourself the following questions . How Maney | |
07:43 | specific points did I make about my subject ? Did | |
07:46 | I overlap or repeat any points ? Did I leave | |
07:49 | any points out or add some that aren't relevant to | |
07:52 | the main idea ? How many paragraphs did I used | |
07:55 | to talk about each point ? Why did I talk | |
07:58 | about them in this order ? Should the order be | |
08:00 | changed ? How did I get from one point to | |
08:03 | the next ? What sign posts did I give the | |
08:05 | reader after you've done your best to correct the overall | |
08:11 | structure of your paper , do the same thing for | |
08:13 | each individual paragraph you can improve paragraphs by one . | |
08:18 | Adjusting the topic sentence to adding , deleting , substituting | |
08:23 | or rearranging supporting details . Three . Improving transitions for | |
08:28 | clarity or four reorganizing sentences to change where the emphasis | |
08:33 | lies . Think back to our previous lesson on paragraph | |
08:37 | ing and make sure each sentence is somehow related to | |
08:40 | the others . Delete any material that isn't for every | |
08:45 | paragraph . Ask yourself these questions . What job is | |
08:49 | this paragraph supposed to dio ? How does it relate | |
08:51 | to the paragraph before and after it ? What's the | |
08:54 | topic idea ? Will my reader have trouble finding it | |
08:58 | ? How many sentences did it take to develop the | |
09:00 | topic idea ? Can I substitute better examples , reasons | |
09:04 | or details ? How well does the paragraph hold together | |
09:08 | ? How maney levels of generality does it have ? | |
09:10 | Are the sentences different lengths and types ? Do I | |
09:14 | need transitions ? When I read the paragraph out loud | |
09:17 | ? Does it flow smoothly ? Finally , work on | |
09:22 | correcting any sentence problems that you may come across . | |
09:25 | First check to make sure each sentence could be considered | |
09:28 | a complete sentence . Oftentimes , and experienced riders may | |
09:32 | accidentally right sentence fragments , run ons or common spices | |
09:36 | that might not be caught without a re reading at | |
09:39 | this point , you can also go ahead and check | |
09:41 | for sentence variety . If every sentence has written in | |
09:44 | the same way , you might bore your reader writing | |
09:47 | that uses sentence Variety is likelier to come off as | |
09:51 | more professional , and your reader will know that you | |
09:53 | worked hard and spent time organizing your writing in the | |
09:56 | clearest way possible . Instead of just quickly jotting down | |
09:59 | your ideas of the last minute . As you're doing | |
10:02 | this , go ahead and check for repetition as well | |
10:05 | . You don't want to use the same words over | |
10:07 | and over again , or it will look like you | |
10:09 | didn't put any effort into your writing . Consider using | |
10:12 | a thesaurus is necessary , right ? Clicking on a | |
10:15 | word in Microsoft Word gives you the option of finding | |
10:19 | synonyms for it , which makes this step rather easy | |
10:22 | . Another method to consider is cutting out the lard | |
10:25 | , a term that scholar Richard Lin um uses to | |
10:28 | refer to extra words and phrases that are unnecessary and | |
10:32 | may obscure the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph | |
10:35 | . Here's an example from his book Revising pros original | |
10:41 | . I think that all I can usefully say on | |
10:43 | this point is that in the normal course of their | |
10:46 | professional activities . Social anthropologists are usually concerned with the | |
10:50 | third of these alternatives , while the other two levels | |
10:53 | air treated as raw data for analysis . And here's | |
10:57 | the revision . Social anthropologists usually concentrate on the third | |
11:01 | alternative , treating the other two as raw data . | |
11:06 | This one is 15 words instead of 44 giving it | |
11:09 | a large factor of 66% . Ask these questions of | |
11:15 | every sentence which sentences in my paper . Do I | |
11:18 | like the most the least ? Can my readers see | |
11:21 | what I'm saying ? Does the sentence contain lard that | |
11:25 | needs to be cut out ? Can I combine these | |
11:28 | sentences with another one ? Can I add adjectives and | |
11:31 | adverbs or find a more lively verb ? By now | |
11:37 | you have completed several different cycles of revision , each | |
11:40 | with a separate reading of your draft . First you | |
11:43 | read it to evaluate your overall message and the relationships | |
11:46 | established among the reader , writer and subject . Next | |
11:50 | , you read to test the overall organization of your | |
11:53 | paper and another reading you examined paragraph structure and another | |
11:58 | sentence construction in diction . The final step is to | |
12:02 | clean up the surface features such as punctuation , mechanics | |
12:06 | and spelling , though most of you have a pretty | |
12:09 | firm grasp on these concepts . Some of you might | |
12:12 | benefit from a trip to the writing center . You | |
12:15 | can also try reading your paper backwards to spot the | |
12:17 | more obvious mistakes . Such a spelling errors . Ask | |
12:21 | yourself the following questions after you at it . Did | |
12:24 | I check spelling and punctuation ? What kinds of words | |
12:28 | do I usually misspell ? What kind of punctuation problems | |
12:31 | do I usually have ? How does my paper end | |
12:34 | ? Did I keep the promises I made to the | |
12:36 | reader at the beginning of the paper when I read | |
12:39 | the assignment again , did I miss anything ? What | |
12:42 | do I like best about this paper ? And how | |
12:44 | can I improve my next paper this week ? Your | |
12:49 | main task will be to revise and edit your papers | |
12:52 | . I hope to see some significant revisions in your | |
12:54 | final drafts , which is due by the end of | |
12:57 | the week . At this point , you will have | |
12:59 | practiced all of the steps of the writing process for | |
13:01 | this essay , including pre writing , outlining , drafting | |
13:05 | , revising and editing . Okay , though we won't | |
13:08 | spend as much time on each of these steps on | |
13:10 | future essays , you should make sure to continue following | |
13:14 | these guidelines on your own . Now that you've got | |
13:16 | a better understanding of the writing process , though , | |
13:18 | you're welcome to use the whatever board to work with | |
13:21 | your classmates on reviews . I hope that your confidence | |
13:24 | in your writing is starting to rise . At this | |
13:26 | point . Get ready to celebrate the completion of your | |
13:28 | first essay and have a great week . |
Summarizer
DESCRIPTION:
In this video students learn the difference between revising and editing.
OVERVIEW:
Revising and Editing is a free educational video by Amenda Werner.It helps students in grades 2 practice the following standards W.2.5.
This page not only allows students and teachers view Revising and Editing but also find engaging Sample Questions, Apps, Pins, Worksheets, Books related to the following topics.
1. W.2.5 : With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
GRADES:
2
STANDARDS:
W.2.5