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Smarthinking Writer's Handbook |
The terms revising and editing are often used interchangeably among student writers, usually with a feeling of great dread. Once a draft is written, when the burden of the assignment feels lifted, and you long to turn it in and be done with it, do you consider re-reading it and looking for errors? While the need to quickly finish an assignment and turn it in can feel overpowering, taking some time after completing a draft to revise your work and make substantive changes will lead to a much stronger piece of writing. Revising Versus Editing Revising, on the other hand, is a much more involved process that gives you the chance to “re-see” the essay, perhaps after taking a break to get some distance from the material. When you revise your work, you frequently make substantive changes such as reordering paragraphs, deleting chunks of the paper, and even rewriting portions from scratch. Writing in Steps Each writer approaches the writing process differently, but most begin by engaging in prewriting exercises to generate ideas. Then, they create an outline to organize those ideas before composing a first draft of the essay. At each stage, the writer is focused on a different aspect of the work, whether that be generating ideas, placing those ideas in the right order, or plugging those ideas into paragraphs. Once ideas are plugged in, the revision process can start. This is the stage where you’ll review a paragraph or essay as a whole and ask yourself some fundamental questions to be sure the essay fits the assignment and provides the right information in the best way to the intended audience. The more drafts you work through, the stronger and more focused the material can become. Therefore, revision isn’t necessarily a one-time event in the writing process; it may happen multiple times over various drafts. Revision won’t immediately lead to “perfect” papers, but there always needs to be a time when the essay is deemed complete. Continuing to practice the revision process will ensure a stronger paper next time, and it gets easier with practice. Revising an Introductory Paragraph Sex education in public schools has been a controversial topic to many for quite some time. There is a strong debate between comprehensive sex education versus abstinence only education, which also involves teaching no sex education at all. When the discussion involves the health and safety of children, teens, and young adults, it becomes a matter that cannot be overlooked. Public schools should be teaching effective and accurate sex education in order to improve the lives, safety and health of children and young adults. Sex education does not only affect their health and safety but their right to proper and correct information about matters that affect them. Revising the Paragraph Sex education in public schools has been a controversial topic for quite some time. [<Remove this sentence and replace it with a better attention grabber to make the reader interested in the topic.] There is a strong debate between comprehensive sex education versus abstinence only education, which also involves teaching no sex education at all. When the discussion involves the health and safety of children, teens, and young adults, it becomes a matter that cannot be overlooked. [Add information about why it cannot be overlooked to better convince readers of my stance.] Public schools should be teaching effective and accurate sex education in order to improve the lives, safety and health of children and young adults. Sex education does not only affect their health and safety but their right to proper and correct information about matters that affect them. [<Remove this line and include earlier in the paragraph or in the conclusion. There is no need for further explanation after the thesis.] In this paragraph, the writer has highlighted sentences to delete and inserted notes as a guide for how to revise the paragraph. This strategy can help you to remember what to move and add so that you can read the entire work and then come back to make the changes. Second Draft The U.S. has one of the highest incidences of teenage pregnancy of any developed nation (Centers for Disease Control). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cites sexual education programs that provide honest information about sex and birth control as a prime factor in the prevention and decrease of babies born to teenage parents. Sex education in public schools has been a controversial topic for quite some time. There is a strong debate between comprehensive sex education versus abstinence-only education, which also involves teaching no sex education at all. When the discussion involves the health and safety of children, teens, and young adults, it becomes a matter that cannot be overlooked. Abstinence-only education is costing every taxpayer and putting lives of teenagers and infants at risk. Public schools should be teaching effective and accurate sex education in order to improve the lives, safety, and health of children and young adults. The paragraph is now improving significantly with content removed and added to create a stronger opening that grabs readers’ attention and interest and begins to convince them that sex education in school is an important topic worth discussing. Think About It
By considering these questions and allowing others to read your work and provide you with honest feedback, you’ll be better prepared to improve your essay and will become a stronger and more effective writer overall.
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