Spend a substantial portion of time evaluating and reflecting on your own work
Identify writing problems and how to fix them in your own work
Practice writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting (this is how writing happens)
Total Time for Revision Plan: 280 minutes (~4-5 hours)* *does not include time for revising and rewriting the paper
Overview (70 minutes)
(10 minutes) Read your paper again out loud, slowly.
(40 minutes) Reread your paper, this time writing notes in the margins, circling words or phrases that are unclear, noticing grammatical or spelling errors, etc. Then, write two to three paragraphs carefully critiquing your work. What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses?
(20 minutes) Carefully read over the letter I’ve written you. In your own words, what suggestions have I given you to improve your work? Briefly write this at the bottom of the letter.
Body Paragraphs + Thesis (65 minutes)
(15 minutes) Locate your thesis. Remember the main qualities of a strong thesis that we discussed in class: your thesis should be argumentative, it should be specific, and ideally it should have tension. On a blank piece of paper (or word doc), write out your thesis. Circle any phrasing that could be more specific. What tension does this thesis explore? Write it beneath your thesis. Remember, tension in your thesis is the push-pull between two ideas. Does it reject one idea in favor of the other, or account for both?
(20 minutes) Now, read back through your body paragraphs. Write the main point of each paragraph in order beneath the thesis.
(20 minutes) Reflect on the relationship between the thesis and your body paragraphs. Write 2-3 paragraphs addressing these questions:
Do all the body paragraphs seem connected to the thesis? If not, do extraneous paragraphs add necessary information, or are they irrelevant?
Does the thesis need to “evolve” in order to address the extraneous information? Is there contradictory evidence that the thesis needs to account for (describe specifically what it is)?
Remember that your paragraphs should relate to the thesis, but not simply restate it. Does each paragraph make the same point, or do they build on each other? Describe the major argumentative arcs/movement(s) of your paper.
Evidence (40 minutes)
Look back over your close readings. Write three paragraphs critiquing the close reading in your paper at large.
In the first paragraph, write about one or two moments where your close readings were strong. What makes these analyses strong?
In the second paragraph, write on one or two moments where your close readings are weak. What makes these analyses weak? Is there a tenuous relationship between analysis and evidence?
In the third paragraph, consider why there is a discrepancy between your analyses. Why are some analyses weak and some strong? Have you spent more time close reading the strong passages before writing on them? Did you have closer attention to the actual language used in one of the close readings? Were you open to contradictory evidence in one but adamant about your reading in the other?
Introduction + Conclusion (30 minutes)
Reread your introduction. Write out the problem/tension/question it sets out above your thesis on the blank document.
Write one paragraph addressing how you could make your introduction clearer. Does the problem, tension, or question that you set out in the introduction match your thesis statement? How could your introduction foreground the argument you address in the paper more directly?
Reread your conclusion. Does your conclusion simply repeat the main point of your paper? Does it offer new ways of thinking about your argument, avenues for further thought, or further implications of your argument?
Write a few sentences about how you could make your conclusion stronger.
Formatting (40 minutes)
Look over your topic sentences. Do they set you up for the content you will be discussing? Do they provide a transition/description of relation to the previous paragraph? Star topic sentences that you need to revise.
Look over your use of quotation. Do you introduce all quotation by foregrounding the point you are going to make about it? Squiggly underline introductions to quotation that you need to revise.
Map out one of your paragraphs according to Hayot’s 1-5 model. What do you notice? Do you spend too much time at the summary level, or not enough time at the level of unmediated data? Write out the 1-5 makeup of the paragraph, and write a few sentences about what you notice. (can use the map that we created in class, but be sure to write out what you notice)
Final Steps (35 minutes)
(20 minutes) Write a few paragraphs laying out your revision plan. How are you going to revise your paper? What steps will you be taking? Will you close read a few more passages before revising? Be sure to address all the major categories here: argument, overall structure, evidence, introduction and conclusion, formatting, and paragraph structure.
(15 minutes) Spend at least ten minutes carefully proofreading and reviewing your revision plan.
After emailing me your revision plan, you are free to begin working on revising your paper. Your paper should be a substantial revision, based on the plan you have outlined in the Final Steps. Papers that do not attempt to follow their revision plan (but merely copy and paste the same paper) will not fulfill the assignment. Keep in mind that your final draft should be polished and proofread.
In order to be considered complete, you must turn in:
Your annotated draft of Paper 1 Draft 3
Your revision plan, including all of the requested paragraphs
Your polished, proofread Paper 1 Draft 4 (same required word count as Paper 1 Draft 3 – ok for it to be longer but not shorter)
you must also upload your revision plan and Paper 1 Draft 4 as one document to bcourses
you must also show a completed labor log for this assignment(I'll check after you turn it in). It's ok if the numbers don't match up exactly (I expect some steps will take you shorter or longer than the times I've listed here based on what your paper needs to work on).