As noted in the syllabus, this is a required posting, asking for your thoughts about what in particular seems new and valuable in these pages. Much of this advice you've heard before, in other words, and much of it hasn't made a successful difference before, or it has and therefore you no longer need to hear it. But the question is, what DOES strike you as new or useful now that for whatever reason hadn't seemed so important, useful or relevant to you as a writer before?
Be sure to take a look at other folks' postings too, just to see the range of responses.
Before reading these pages, I assumed that editing and revising were interchangeable. But now I realize that editing is making changes regarding sentence structure or word choice, while revising is making changes about content and description. This understanding is beneficial to me because before when I was asked to revise a paper, I could have edited instead and vice versa. It’s important to know common writing terms like editing and revising because they have appeared and will continue to appear in the papers I will write. Now that I understand the difference between these words, I won’t make mistakes that could possibly slow down my writing process.
ReplyDeleteThis reading had a lot of great take-aways. I really appreciated the emphasis on the separation of revising and editing in this reading. Prior to this chapter, I had used the two terms interchangeably, never spending time to truly consider the variations in their meanings. However, I now recognize the stark contrast between the two and the importance in separating the two stages for a more effective and productive outcome.
ReplyDeleteI also really agree with the concept of creating distance and time between oneself and one’s draft before revisiting it to make additional improvements. I strongly believe in this aspect of the writing process because doing so can really expand one’s critique of the work when exploring it from a different perspective.
Additionally, an important topic The Compact Reader covers that I had not really focused my attention on previously is unity in my paragraphs. I had never thought of my individual paragraphs like “mini-essays…each developing an idea, or subpoint, that supports the thesis” (33).
Lastly, the greatest take away that I got from this reading was the importance of using language to keep readers interested. Choosing clear and effective words and using them actively helps the reader stay engaged and allows him or her to focus on your ideas, without distractions.
I believe that this reading was very helpful and will benefit my both my writing and simplify my writing process. It offers tips, while providing examples to further solidify the ideas.
Similar to Matt and Tess, the difference between revising and editing resounded with me. The advice about "looking at the whole draft" instead of focusing on tiny details in the drafting process was particularly helpful to me as my inner critic tends to be too precise before I get my big ideas down. The Parallelism and Variety sections were also valuable, and I learned new ways to avoid repetition in sentences.
ReplyDeleteOverall, this chapter made me think more about the "big picture": ideas, structure, organization, and unity. I sometimes forget about these crucial elements of writing in pursuit of perfection in language or style.
I think that one of the most significant aspects from this reading was the section “Choosing Clear and Effective Words.” I appreciated their distinction between denotations, or the dictionary definition, and connotation, or the emotional implications of a word. Word choice is arguably one of the most important components to your writing because that is what makes the readers feel involved or not. If the writer chooses words that do not effectively capture what he/she is trying to write about then the whole piece becomes confusing and a lesser piece of writing. Going along with that theme, the section on “Making Sentences Clear and Effective” was also very helpful. They outlined several strategic tools that make sentences much more valuable. Several of the tips included, the use of highlighting what is most important in the beginning and end of sentences and, the importance of using an active voice and parallelism. These tools, along with word choice, will make our writing much better and more interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cora, Tess, and Matt and found all those sections very useful. I especially agreed with Cora in finding the section on "Making Sentences Clear and Effective" to be very helpful. It explained clearly (hm, I wonder why...) how to make sentences emphatic and succinct, instead of wordy and passive. The use of variety in sentences was very helpful, because although it was an idea I had heard of before, seeing contrasted examples really demonstrated how important the concept was. The use of different techniques to begin sentences rather than just different subjects was a great suggestion, and made Katz's work far more interesting than the other example.
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out most for me, especially in the first 10 pages, was the focus--as a writer--on considering one's audience. When I write, of course I try to make the paper as clear and easy as possible for me to understand when I revisit it for revision (or editing?). But that's always me, both the writer and audience, who is correcting it, rather than a stranger to the work who would bring an unadulterated viewpoint. The sections about 'Unity' and 'Coherence' emphasized thinking (while writing) about who exactly will read the piece--something I haven't really considered much before.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Chapter 3 about the difference between revising and editing I agree with Matt. I came to the realization that on my past essays I wasted time focussing on perfecting my sentences before refining my concept. For me, the most important lesson I took out of this reading was the necessity of unity within a paragraph and an essay. When I write I constantly need to remind myself to tie all topic sentences to my thesis and all supporting sentences to my topic sentences. Lastly, I found the section on tone helpful because the author, Jane Aaron, emphasized that in writing it is crucial to know your reader and to take time during revision to address tone.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe that almost everything mentioned in Chapter 3 is important and necessary, I found myself personally intrigued the most with two ideas. First, the concept of time. Giving one's self time after completing a draft to put it aside and come back to it later can be extremely rewarding to a piece of writing. I believe that our brains often benefit and regenerate from forgetting about something and coming back to it later. As said in the chapter, "you may have further thoughts in the interval, and you will be able to see your work more objectively when you return to it." (pg.32) Secondly, I strongly agreed with what was said about writing with a tone. When reading, I am often most interested when I can hear the author's feelings regarding the topic. Although it can be very important to remain un-biased at times, inserting a tone can often liven up and add an edge to a piece.
ReplyDeleteI believe, like others above, that the importance of drafting, revising and editing is very important. The Compact Reader talks about how in the first draft it is important to just get all of your ideas out. and then in later drafts narrow it down. I was never taught the difference between revising and editing, but this section really brought to light the important differences in them. Whenever I revised, I would focus on the changing of the content as well as the smaller grammatical errors which I now know is incorrect. Furthermore, the idea of having time in between revisions seems incredibly helpful. Overall, I think that this chapter was very enlightening and really brought ideas that I had briefly heard about before really into the forefront of my mind during my writing process.
ReplyDeleteAlexi
Most ideas from page thirty-one to fifty-four were familiar but a few stuck out to me. I normally benefit greatly from making an outline prior to writing an essay or story, but I have never made an outline after a first draft of an essay. Rereading and checking the organization by making an outline of one's writing seems much more beneficial than simply reading over an essay for organization. This is so much more helpful because it provides space between the writer and their work. As Kenia said, space and time between a writer and their work is vital when revising. Secondly, I did not know there was a difference between editing and revising, I have always thought of the two as the same and have edited and revised simultaneously no matter what stage I am in my work. Now, I realize that revision alone is a first step and editing small details should come after in order to save time and let ideas flow better when revising. Lastly, I have read about parallelism in the compact reader twice now and would like to start using it more in my writing to better emphasize my point of view and to take my writing to the next level.
ReplyDelete-Daisy
I found a lot of value in the word choice section. When I write, I spend a lot of time focusing on choosing strong, clear, and effective words to express my story, point of view, and attitude. I am glad that The Compact Reader talked about connotations and the value that certain connotations can have. I enjoyed the idea that “strong connotations can shape readers’ responses to your ideas”(49), which is a goal that I, and many writers, try to achieve. Alike to what Cora said, I think word choice is a very important thing to focus on—it can control the flow, clarity, tone, and even structure, and engage or turn off a reader. While overall, big-picture aspects are also important as many people have previously pointed out and as stated in The Compact Reader, I think that word choice is just as important. I also liked The Compact Reader’s comparison of vague and exact description on pages 49 and 50. The example that they created about the pollution-filled stream really demonstrated the effectiveness of word choice.
ReplyDeleteI also found value in the section on “Emphasis” (page 45-47) and “Variety”(47-48) in syntax and sentence structure. I have heard these tips before, but I found the examples of unemphatic vs. emphatic sentences new and very concrete. It was interesting to see how a writer can change the tone and meaning of a sentence just be re-organizing phrases, words, and subjects within a sentence.
I had forgotten the difference between revising the big picture and editing the details as well, so that was good to review. Most of the topics were review, but what was valuable to me was thinking about it in the context of personal writing. In the future I hope that my personal essays will develop around a thesis like analytical writing, rather than just tell a story chronologically, which is what I am doing now. With a thesis, I could organize in the different ways the Compact Reader explains, and develop the points from the beginning to make the reader want to keep reading. My goal coming away from the reading is to eventually incorporate these strategies into my writing as a way to make the reader actually care about my story. I want to make my essays accessible and meaningful to people other than myself, using a thesis and interesting organization.
ReplyDeleteI really like/agree with this idea Linnea. While The Compact Reader wasn't specifically referring to personal essays, I, as you do too, see value in applying the said structure to my stories. I am currently doing the sort of thing you are doing, "tell[ing] a story chronologically," and like the idea of "developing [my personal essays] around a thesis like analytical writing." I think this can make stories more interesting and relatable.
DeleteWe talked about this in my conference, but this reading really drove home the point of the importance of either having a pier read your essay out loud to you or recording yourself out loud and then listening to it. I had never thought of doing this, and even if I had, I most likely would have ignored it since it is a time consuming task when it comes to long history or english final essays. However, with personal expository writing, pieces tend to be shorter, making this editing style more accessible and realistic for me.
ReplyDeleteAs many have mentioned before me, the "Clear and Effective Writing" section was very helpful as well. I have known that I needed to improve this aspect of my writing since my ideas are sometimes jumbled. However, the examples in this book made me realize that concise writing not only "saves words and is easier to follow", but also makes a more enjoyable piece and avoids writing "no-no's" such as cliches.
-Berk
Not all of you are represented here yet, but I want to salute you all so far for the care you've taken, first with the reading, and then with these thoughts about your writing. I have often wished that these ideas would "land" more forcefully with students, and have struggled with the best way to make that happen. A quiz? Seems punitive. A discussion? Often too few people do the talking (and maybe the reading). Reading your postings, I witnesses what you each found important, not what I thought was important enough to quiz you on, or raise as topics in discussion. The blog served me, and you, very well here, and I'm grateful. More specifics in class, but for now, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe section entitled "Choosing Clear and Effective Words" was extremely helpful for me with regard to personal expository writing. Generally, whenever I write, I use an abundance of general/abstract words. This stems from the fact that general/abstract words are better for analytical essays because they help to describe general ideas and create emotional distance. However, in personal expository writing, I need to find a healthy balance between general words and specific words. The general words can set the context of the piece, while the specific words can draw the reader in emotionally. I now see that to create an effective piece, one must use both. To correct this issue, I could try to replace as many general words as possible with specific words during the revision process. Until this comes naturally, I will need to be cognizant of my word choice.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I now understand why we are only assigned a "start" on any given night. If an entire essay was assigned at any given point, it is unlikely that there would be a revision process. Based upon the idea that "writing is revision", a revision process not only makes us better writers, but also makes our work more interesting for the audience.
One thing that strikes me as new and useful for me in the reading is the difference between revising and editing in the writing process. In the past, these two terms have been nearly synonymous in my mind, perhaps because I've never asked for a clarification of their difference. By acknowledging their separateness in their definition, the book also prescribes them different places and steps in the writing process. In my usual writing process, I have condensed these two steps into one. I could therefore see that this revision/editing process is much more hectic, but much less productive. If I take the time to separate these two procedures in my process, I think my final result will be much more developed and refined.
ReplyDelete-Matt
A part of the reading that really resided with me was the section about using shorter sentences to underscore an important point. Whenever I write I usually begin to ramble on and my sentences begin to become too long. Also, the sentences I write are mostly more than 8 words and don't underscore the sentence. Furthermore, I have difficulty cutting down my sentences and not having run-on sentences. Another part of the reading that really interested me was the part about using subordination to de-emphasize a part of the sentence.This is important because it varies your writing while emphasizing another part of the sentence. Together, with these two revision suggestions, it will allow me to having a more varied writing and will hopefully interset the reader more through taking away my long sentences.
ReplyDelete