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Rachel Reyna

English 1301.28

Trang Phan

Sept. 13, 2010

Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers

Summary:

Nancy Sommers states in the article that “current models of the writing process directed attention away from revision”. Sommers‘ article describes the different contrasts between student and experienced writers. She uses a variety of resources to help understand more of the revision process and how it affects students and writers. the absence of research on revision, then, is a function of a theory of writing which makes revision both superfluous and redundant, a theory which does not distinguish between writing and speech. Although, the author took theories from other writers, one can also learn about revision.

Revision can be considered as a rewording activity. Different students in the article are used to

give their strategies on how they use revision in their writings. One student stated about his strategy “Reviewing means just using better words and eliminating words that are not needed. I go over and change words around.” Experienced writers also defined their revision process in Sommers’ article. “My first draft is usually very scattered. In rewriting, I find the line of argument. After the argument is resolved, I am much more interested in word choice and phrasing” is the point of view of an experienced writer.

Question:

How important do you think it is to revise a paper with detail? How and with what methods would you want a peer to revise your paper?

Response:

I personally feel that some students should not give only one statement when it comes to revising a paper. I feel that revision statements that are clear, honest and precise will be the most useful to a writer, especially when they are a student writer. When revising a paper, one should be able to point out the writers mishaps and explain their thinking. If one is not honest or precise, then how is that going to help the writer become a better one? I would want someone to revise my paper with cruelty and honesty. Some might feel honesty can be cruelty, but in my perspective I think it is those two factors that makes someone a better writer. I would want to know everything from about my grammer mistakes to my sentences flowing. I understand why Sommers felt compelled to write an article about revision. It is a useful tool to create a good piece of literature.

Works Cited:
Sommers, Nancy. “ Revision Strategies of Students Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” College Compositions and Communication Dec 1890: pgs 378-388

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Understanding Composing

Summary: In Sondra Perl's article "Understanding Composing", Perl uses a teacher's composing assignment as the main reference to explain the several correct and incorrect steps to a successful composing process. When a writer is given a specific topic to write about, he or she may feel compelled to use recursiveness, which allows writers to move foward with sub strands or subroutines in the writing. Also, the author recognizes recursiveness as the most challenging part of writing. However, within any writer's emotions there is a "felt sense", an awareness that gathers everything one feels and knows about a subject. This feeling helps the writer become aware of why the topic triggers certain senses in the writer's body and mind. Two other important key points in the composing process are retrospectice and projective structuring. Retrospective structuring helps the writer discover a surprise in the writing that they do not expect. Projective structuring causes concerns for the writers when they use it to focus on what they think others want them to write and ignore what it is they would like to write about. After her observation on the teacher, the author concludes that the process is more complex than writers are aware of.

Question: In the article, Perl states that retrospective and projective structuring are two parts of the same process. Which structure do you find is a more difficult process in your writing?

Response: I personally feel that in my writing proctective writing would be harder. When I first start to think about what I want to write I come up with too many ideas all at once. I find that one idea might be stronger than the other or that the subject might not be entertaining enough. Once I cannot figure out what would be best, I think about the people who are going to read my paper. I completey discard any ideas I had and then focus on what the readers could want. Usually when I do that I compare my writing to what I have read that was succesful and then once I start writing, the final work ends up being something I would have never written. It is important to write what you want and not worry about others. That way you may discover that your readers can relate to what you truly mean in your writing. I think Perl made a successful choice to include retrospective and projectice structing in the process because it helps writers realize if what they wrote was a complete surprise or if what they wrote ended being somehing they would not normally write.