Writing Process

What is the most helpful to focus on FIRST when you begin the revision process?

Checking that the clarity and strength of your thesis and the overall organization of your supporting paragraphs.

If you've been given an assignment to write an essay about what caused World War I, and in your first paragraph you want to describe the sequence of historical events that led up to it, which paragraph structure would be the MOST appropriate?

Chronological

What would be the best strategy to revise the following two sentences for style?: Heroin is an extremely addictive drug. Thousands of heroin addicts die each year.

Combine the two simple sentences into one compound sentence.

Which of the following sentences uses a comma incorrectly?

It's suggested that adults should drink 64 ounces of water, per day.

Which of the following describes a strategy for revising the structure of an essay?

compose stronger topic sentences that introduce your main ideas

Which of the sentences below contains an error of commonly confused terms?

For the backpacking trip, we will need to pack lots of non-perishable foods, e.g. Cheerios, instant coffee, and trail mix.

Why should you create a profile of your reader?

It will help you determine what types of evidence would be persuasive.

After working all week revising the content and organization of her paper, Julia knows she's close to her final draft. She's exhausted and overwhelmed, but wants to move on to editing her paper. What advice would you give her about the best time to proofread her paper at this point?

Take a break and come at it with a fresh, focused mindset tomorrow.

After completing her latest draft, Sandy is ready to proofread her essay. She's been working for hours and is tired and hungry. What advice would you give her about approaching proofreading?

Take a break before proofreading so that you can read your essay with a rested mind and fresh eyes.

Which of the following sentences is a fragment?

The best tailgating in the South, by far.

After completing your first draft, you're ready to move into the revision phase. What would be the MOST helpful to focus on first?

The clarity of the main ideas and overall organization of your essay.

Macy, a student in your class, is reviewing your paper. She seems reluctant to say anything more than a couple of vague compliments. What should you say to her to make this experience valuable for both of you?

"Thanks, but I'm struggling specifically with my thesis statement and need your help. Is my claim too weak?"

You've been assigned a research essay analyzing the events leading up to the beginning of World War I. Considering the essay's purpose, what information do you NOT need to include?

An entertaining anecdote about your Great Grandpa who fought in World War I

While revising his paper, Tomas notices that his second body paragraph seems weaker than the others. He thinks it lacks focus. What could he do to strengthen this paragraph?

Delete any sentences that do not directly support the main idea or that are repetitive.

Which question is the MOST important when determining if a claim or evidence is appropriate or in need of revision within an essay?

Does the claim or evidence directly support and further my thesis?

After working through three drafts of one paper, you feel like your paper couldn't possibly be improved, but you know you have to go through one more draft to proofread. Which of the following techniques would NOT be helpful at this point in your process?

Printing the paper out and cutting the paper up paragraph by paragraph to rearrange them.

All of the following are effective proofreading strategies EXCEPT:

Reading the paper in the back of your mind.

Alex is revising a research paper for psychology and wants to make sure he's incorporated evidence in an order that makes sense. Which of the following methods for revising would be most appropriate?

Reverse outlining

Karla is worried about making spelling mistakes in her essay. What should you tell her?

Run spell-check and do a visual check for words that are commonly misspelled, like lose and loose.

Which of the following sentences has an unnecessary comma?

She was excited to graduate, but didn't feel ready for college.

How can you tell this sentence is a run-on? In the long run, we will have to choose which path to take, we won't have time to hike everywhere.

The sentence includes two subjects and two verbs but no semicolon or coordinating conjunction combined with a comma.

Which of the following indicates a subject-verb agreement error appears in the sentence below? Many first-year college students has memorized the school song before moving into their dorms.

The subject "students" doesn't match in sound or number with the auxiliary verb "has."

What is your purpose when you are writing an email to your boss regarding a customer's complaint?

To inform

What is your purpose when you are sending a text to friends asking them to meet you on the Square?

To persuade

In what ways does considering readers' biases and attitudes not help you when revising the content?

You can add evidence to mirror their existing ideas.

Taylor prints off her essay as separate paragraphs and shuffles the order of her body paragraphs. In the process of shuffling her paragraphs, she realizes she needs to make changes to the order of several body paragraphs. What strategy has she used to revise her essay?

cutting it up

Taylor's assignment is to write a thesis-driven argument about a Civil War novel for an introductory History class. Which kinds of evidence could Taylor add in order to expand the draft?

facts about significant historical events

You can find and fix punctuation errors by

reading the last sentence first, and then the second-to-last sentence, and continuing that way to the beginning.

Taylor focuses on one paragraph of her essay and notices that the sentence structures are simple and repetitive. She works to combine a few sentences to make them more complex, and then uses a prepositional phrase at the beginning of another sentence. What revision strategy has she used?

sentence variety

Which phrase in the following sentences could be removed or restated to maintain an academic tone? "Students who are frustrated with the job application process after graduation should remember that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. They can use on campus resources such as Career Services to help improve their application and interviewing skills."

what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.