| Instructor: Dr. Katalin Orban |
- a 20-minute meeting devoted to your essay draft and revision plans
- a meeting where you tell me what you think you need to do to improve your essay and how you think you could do it
- a meeting that requires advance preparation
- usually in lieu of class and counts as a class meeting for the purposes of attendance policies
A conference is not
- a meeting where I tell you what to do
- a copy-editing session
- a time for general discussion or a chat (feel free to come by at some other time to chat...)
We will meet for conferences in my office (#06-36), on the same level as our tutorial room.
20 minutes is a lot of time if you are focused and come prepared to discuss your argument,
plans for revision, specific problems you may be having, as well as possible
solutions. Without concentration and some advance preparation, however, you are likely to find that the 20 minutes flew by before anything was accomplished.
There are three principles you should keep in mind when you think about revising your essay:
Revision entails rethinking your thesis. Because clarity of vision
is the result of experience, it is unreasonable to expect to come up with
the best thesis possible--one that clearly accounts for the complexities of
the issue at hand--before beginning a draft, or even during a first draft.
The best theses evolve; they are the products of the kind of precise thinking
that is only possible to achieve by writing. Successful revision involves
bringing your thesis into focus--or, changing it altogether.
Revision entails making structural changes. Drafting is usually a
process of discovering an idea or argument. Your argument will not become
clearer if you only tinker with individual sentences. Successful revision
involves bringing the strongest ideas to the front of the essay, reordering
the main points, cutting irrelevant sections, adding implications. It also
involves making the argument's structure visible by strengthening topic sentences
and transitions.
Revision takes time. Avoid shortcuts: the reward for sustained effort
is a clearer, more persuasive, more sophisticated essay than a first draft
can be. (From Revising
the Draft by Laura Saltz.)
Cutting can be a painful exercise, but it is extremely beneficial treatment for some essay ailments--if you cut the right thing. Do you feel particularly attached to an example that no longer fits your argument as it has evolved? Did you end up writing a page more than you should have? Did you write something before you have come to a new understanding of your project? Take a deep breath, find what needs to be cut, and cut it.
Feedback received from readers of your draft--peers or your teacher--can be valuable information for devising revision strategies, but don't forget that it is one thing to be informed by reviewers and quite another to be controlled by them. It is in your interest to take into account the experience of these sample readers, but they may not be right. You are the author of your essay, so you are the one who makes decisions and takes responsibility for them. Make sure you understand and evaluate the comments and suggestions and use them as you see fit.
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