Posts Tagged: editing


Posts Tagged ‘editing’

Oct 14 2009

Editing

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Computer Read Aloud, Microsoft Word Tools (Spell Check, Grammar Check, and Thesaurus), Highlighting Parallel Structures, Tracking Common Errors

  • Computer Read Aloud: The computer will read the paper exactly as it’s written, helping writers examine their writing more closely. Adobe Acrobat (installed in some labs) has this capability, but students also can download a free program like CutePDF Writer. In Adobe Acrobat, choose “View” from the top menu bar and select “Read Out Loud.”
  • Rhetorics as Resources: Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (Chapters 5, 6)

Apr 11 2007

Textbook Resources for Teaching Writing Process Strategies

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  1. Meeting of Minds devotes two chapters to revising and editing, in addition to providing integrated strategies for revising that are tailored to each chapter. The revising chapter includes a variety of activities students can try and explains why they are helpful for some writers. The strategies are categorizes as “revising for compelling ideas,” “revising for unity and form,” and “revising for voice and tone” (Chapter 11).
  2. The “Guide to…” feature in several chapters of Everything’s an Argument include questions for response; these tailored questions could be used for self-assessment or peer review to prompt revision and editing.
  3. Work in Progress includes chapters on “Strategies for Managing the Revision Process” and “Strategies for Revising Structure and Style.” A chapter on “Understanding the Writing Process” also offers tips for identifying the writer’s own process and for using technology.
  4. Classical Techniques and Contemporary Arguments describes revision as “a natural and welcome part of the writing process” (146). The text introduces rhetorical terms to talk about writing and uses those terms throughout. The authors also integrate peer revision questions that support student revision and editing.
  5. Both versions of The Thomson Handbook include strategies for managing the writing process, conducting research, citing sources, presenting information, writing with technology, and editing for style.

Apr 11 2007

Teaching Editing Strategies

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  • Integrate instruction on using handbooks. Students are more likely to turn to these resources if they know how to use them.
    • Introduce notable features of the handbook during the first week of class. Many handbooks include a brief introduction with tips for using the text.
    • Prepare a scavenger hunt activity, prompting students to answer writing questions by using the handbook. For many current handbooks, these questions could range from managing the writing process and writing with technology to making stylistic choices and integrating visuals.
    • In one-on-one or small group conferences, have students attempt to find answers to style and editing questions and citation questions using a handbook. Offer strategies for using navigational features (i.e., tabs, indices, table of contents).
  • Teach editing in context. Select one or two stylistic features or editing concerns to comment on and offer strategies for revisions or future writing. Research suggests that grammar instruction is most effective when offered in the context of students’ own writing and prioritized to focus on one or two topics per paper.
  • Allow last-minute edits before students submit. Do not penalize for these final edits. Twist: Encourage students to have a peer suggest edits before students submit their papers. Give students time to consider the edits, ask questions, and make changes before collecting papers.

Apr 11 2007

Teaching Revising Strategies

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  • Introduce self-evaluation strategies. Teach students how to translate assignment guidelines and evaluation criteria into questions they can pose to themselves and their draft readers.
    • Meeting of Minds describes self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and instructor evaluation. The authors offer tips for self-evaluation, including reading out loud and taking a break between drafting and revising. (See p. 332 for a complete description.)
    • The Brief Thomson Handbook offers a project checklist that includes reflective questions about the writing process/product, evaluative questions about the content and support, and descriptive questions about voice and tone (see p. 31). Additional checklists prompt revising for context, with questions about audience, purpose, and kairos (see p. 32), and revising for kinds of evidence (see p. 34).
    • Work in Progress lists questions on focus, content, and organization that  students can use for self-evaluation (see pp. 309-310).
  • Introduce strategies for revising with technology. Although students are used to working with many forms of technology, they might not have received instruction in strategies for writing with technology. Many recent rhetoric textbooks and some handbooks incorporate writing with technology into their discussions of the writing process.
    • The Brief Thomson Handbook includes guidelines for commenting on a document in a Word Processor and for tracking changes in a document (see pp. 38 & 41-42). These tools can help writers document their own revisions, assist peers who are offering feedback, and allow instructors to anchor their comments to specific portions of students’ texts.
    • Work in Progress encourages critical use of technology. The author identifies word processing functions that can aid revision but also prompts students to print drafts to aid global revision.
    • Most of the recommended texts include reminders to create backup copies of work, to save often, and to print hard copies periodically.
  • Go low-tech: Take scissors and tape into the class. Direct students to cut their printed papers into smaller chunks and to rearrange them until they find the order that makes the most sense to them. Twist: Have students give the chunks to a classmate to arrange.
  • Blind revision: Ask students to set aside their papers and to rewrite the introduction or conclusion based on their memory of the text and the main points they want to make. Then ask students to compare the new drafts to their papers and to plan revisions accordingly.
  • Require students to write a revision plan. This activity could be a five-minute write in class or a more formal out-of-class assignment. Prompt students to consider how they will respond to feedback, what timeline they will follow, how they will revise to better address audience needs, etc. Meeting of Minds includes an example (see p. 341).