Tutorama: Week Thirteen: Revision II

Introduction: Conceptual Revision
At the end of the semester, one of the challenges that 100 and 100R students face is having too many ideas to fit into just one paper. When this phenomenon occurs, it is time for a conceptual revision of your paper. A conceptual revision weeds out the weak ideas and keeps the strong ones. It also ensures that your paper provides a tightly focused response to your assignment question. Below are some strategies for conceptually revising your paper.

Strong Ideas/Weak Ideas: Two Checklists
Review each body paragraph in your draft. Use the following two checklists to determine if each idea is strong or weak. As you review, label each paragraph as strong or weak.

A strong idea:

• Makes a connection between the essays that defines a relationship between two ideas, or an idea and an event

• Addresses a concept or question presented in the assignment

• Opens up an interesting issue to you which both authors address

• Is related to the ideas presented in the paragraphs directly before and after.

A weak idea:

• May make a connection between essays, but the connection is superficial. Weak ideas often claim that two ideas are "the same" or "different;" they do not move beyond comparison to analysis

• Is tangential. Weak ideas may provide a connection between the essays but do not have anything to do with the assignment. Weak ideas also are those ideas that do not relate closely to any of the other ideas presented in your essay

• Is poorly supported by evidence from the text. A weak idea is often supported by vague generalizations about universal truths, the state of the world, or other examples not directly related to the texts or assignment. These generalizations are not inherently bad, but they need to be attached to specific examples that are relevant to your project and the assignment.

Revising Weak Ideas
For each paragraph that you labeled as "weak," you must decide whether to keep the idea and revise it, or to take it out of your paper.

• If the idea is tangential, you should take it out of your paper.

• If the problem is that it resorts to compare/contrast, try to strengthen the idea by explaining how or why that similarity/difference is important. If the explanation fits in with the rest of your essay, then keep the idea. If not, take it out.

Revising Strong Ideas
Even though an idea may be strong, it may still need revision. Review each sentence of your paragraph using the following checklist:

• Do you provide a transition sentence that links the idea in the previous paragraph to the new paragraph?

• Do you provide a topic sentence or focus for your paragraph?

• Do you define all important terms and concepts?

• Do you introduce and provide context for your quotations?

• Do you explain what the quotations mean in your own words?

• Do you explain how the quotations support the connection you are making?

Conclusion
Remember that writing is a process. Sometimes an idea in your first draft may not be central to your paper by the final draft. Experienced writers know when to let go of an idea. Don't think of it as "losing" work; think of it as gaining strength and focus for your essay.

main Tutorama page | next >> Preparing for Your Final Exam