revising your work...
"My first drafts are always rather flat and disappointing. It's a little bit like when you move into a home. You haul all your stuff and shove it in the house; the things you need are there, but it looks horrible an doesn't feel like a home at all. The subsequent draft is about saying, O.K., this couch belongs here. Let's get rid of this painting. Let's put this armoire here..."
~ Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And The Mountains Echoed
~ Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And The Mountains Echoed
i'm done drafting! Now what?
Now that you have all of your thoughts on paper, it is time to revise it to make it even better! Before giving your work to others, be sure to read your piece thoroughly YOURSELF in order to see what major revisions and small edits you need to make. Ask yourself:
- Am I following the general rules of my genre?
- Am I leaving out any necessary information?
- What tools do authors in this genre use? How and where should I include these techniques in my own text?
- Am I following basic grammar rules? (Think about capitalization, homophones, sentence fragments, punctuation, etc.)
Also, look at the presentation below for more revision ideas:
- Am I following the general rules of my genre?
- Am I leaving out any necessary information?
- What tools do authors in this genre use? How and where should I include these techniques in my own text?
- Am I following basic grammar rules? (Think about capitalization, homophones, sentence fragments, punctuation, etc.)
Also, look at the presentation below for more revision ideas:
when you are ready to show your work to others for review:
- Choose someone (ideally someone from your writing group) who will read and critique your work.
- Fill out the "Peer Writing Conference Record" (below) with your name, the date, and your desired areas of focus.
- Give your IWP and the Peer Writing Conference Record to the peer responder. She will read your piece and write any comments/feedback to you on the back of this page.
- You will read the comments that the reviewer wrote and then orally ask her any questions you may have.
- You will create action steps for how you are going to revise your piece and write them on the sheet.
- Revise your IWP based on the feedback and keep the Peer Writing Conference Record in your Independent Writing portfolio.
- You will repeat this process with all of your reviewers.
peer revision form
Below you will find a copy of the "Peer Writing Conference Record." Be sure to keep ALL records, since the way you use peer feedback in your revisions and the quality of the feedback you give others is part of your grade for this project!
If you would like to download and print a paper version of this form, click on the icon below:
| peer_review_sheet.doc |
