Misunderstood: Revision in the Writing Process
**This is a ridiculously short excerpt from my blog piece; if you teach writing and you’re interested in finding ways to help encourage students to take time to revise their writing, please read the whole post. 🙂
Students think that the revision stage of the writing process is equivalent to proofreading.
In extending my thinking on this, I argue that revising a piece of writing is like arranging furniture in a room.
In both cases, the revised arrangement (of furniture or ideas) results in a more organized, functional space.
I think this analogy will resonate with students because they have probably all arranged the furniture in their bedrooms; or they have been in a room with furniture, even if they weren’t allowed to re-arrange it.
It also demonstrates the idea that the student is the agent of revision. In the same way that the student could decide where to place the chair in the bedroom, they can decide where the statistic should be placed. And for that matter, not only is it important to decide where the chair should be placed, but what type of chair would suit the room; and similarly, what type of statistic to include in the essay.
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Things Misunderstood