Resisting Revision
Even though it is difficult for students to control the length at which they can wait for their work to be returned back to them, we are held personally responsible for making a decision as to the amount of time that we will allocate each type of paper. In the ordinary sense, working copies will normally be subjected to many revisions as many times as possible before a near perfect finished copy is completed for use in the writing folder. My attention will normally focus on discovering and working with the content of my work after attending to normal forms of revision like punctuation, grammar, and spellings at the end of the revision cycle.
I will only place a priority on formal corrections when I know my piece of work is going to submit a final copy. I therefore personally see less value and take less pleasure in doing revision work. Even though I love writing drafts, I hate revisions because it needs one to correct about everything and start it over again. I, therefore, prefer doing it straight on the paper and doing it as a final story. A lot of resistance to revision arises among many students because of the procedures which are involved in working on an original version and working on the new revision. In normal circumstances, I always see revision as being wastage of my precious time and I always assume that any work that I have done is normally adequate and presentable according to my own standards of judgment. I usually react to the amount of effort and time I spend working on my assignment through writing and revising when the tutor finally accepts it as completed work.
But after reading Chapter one of the book, I realized that multiple draft revision was an essential part of the writing process and therefore, my attitude towards revision totally changed to the positive instead of the negative. This approach was very valuable because it enabled me to work from my draft instead of working from memory which was problematic not only for me but also for most of my classmates. I discovered that in order to clearly work on revision work, then I must have a vision which I intent to start with. I fully discovered that revision is essential and valuable because it helps me to become more reflective about my writing pieces and it helps me to possess a repertoire of revision strategies which I can easily apply in order to achieve my specific goals.
By reading Chapter one of the book, I was able to effectively grasp the revision concepts, structure, and directions which could help me towards the development of effective revision habits. I was therefore in a good position to fully utilize the five revision tools namely: Snapshots, the creation of a scene, exploding a moment, questions and tough shots. When working on a revision, it is essential that I avoid common punctuation, spelling errors and grammar mistakes in my work.
In conclusion, I discovered that in order to effectively work on a revision, I should be ready to meet the deadline set for the final copy by working on the drafts. Proofreading is also an essential part of the revision process as it enables me to fix simple grammatical and spelling errors that I have made in my initial draft copies. Working on revisions in class is also vital because it enables me to ask my teacher questions if there is a need.
