Revision is Central to Developing Writing

Why is revision important?

In Doug Down’s, “Revision is Central to Developing Writing” he explains how important revision is in writing. Revising not only makes the writing better but it also gives writers better ideas to connect with the text. Doug actually mentions how writers find things to say while revising that they didn’t have to say before. This all leads to developing a writers skillset.

Many students seem to think of revisions as a punishment for a bad piece of writing but its so much more than that. A person revising their own writing not only gives them more opportunities to expand their thought process of a writer but also effectively revising an essay over and over gives students more confidence in their writing. In doing this, students begin to find writing a lot easier as they continue to grow. Doug Down ended their article with one really important long sentence:

“Students, teachers, writers, and educational policymakers must understand the implication of this threshold concept: revising, or the need to revise, is not an indicator of poor writing or weak writers but much the opposite–a sign and a function of skilled, mature, professional writing and craft.”

Doug truly explains the importance of revision in his article and they closed it out perfectly reminding everyone what revision can do to a writer. Revision is the best thing that comes with the process of writing.

Keep a good set a rules in mind

It’s always a good idea to keep a set of rules in your head while revising a paper. Professors at Trent University came up with 3 very useful rules to keep in mind:

• Do everything in your power NOT to hand in a first draft.
• Try to take a break (even for a short period of time) between drafting and revision. This will help you gain a better perspective
• If you’re feeling frustrated or stuck, involve someone else in your revision process. You can have a friend read it. Or, you can take the draft to an Academic personal.

These three rules are very important in the sense that every writer will experience them at some point in time and keeping these rules in mind will not only help writers turn in the best writing piece possible but will help them develop a better writing perspective in the process as well.