Revising Papers Workshop

Last night I attended the Revising Papers Workshop sponsored by the writing center.  I was actually optimistic about going because I thought it might benefit me in writing papers.  But what I found was that for the most part, it reinforced the things I already know (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but can be boring).  To begin, the opening discussion involved the difference between revising and editing... two actions that people commonly confuse.  Revising is the process of reading, examining, and thinking about the approach, technique, and organization of a paper, rather than editing which involves the correction of grammar and mechanics.  One thing the workshop stressed was that in writing papers, revising is equal to or more important than editing.  Of course it is important to be aware of both, but you want to have a clear approach and focus more than anything else so that your paper is not all over the place.  One way to do this is to ask yourself a few questions such as:

1.  What is the Purpose of the paper?

2.  Is there an effective introductory paragraph?

3.  Is the thesis clearly defined?

4.  Are the arguments presents supporting the thesis?

5.  Is the overall organization clear?

6.  Is the subject coherence?  

Though these are questions that usually happen automatically in the process or writing, it is good to be aware of them and to make sure you are able to answer them clearly.  They will give your papers a better direction.  

Overall the workshop was alright, but I felt it could have been more informative.  Maybe if examples were shown about how to correct actual essays or common errors that people make, I could have gotten more out of it.  One thing I did learn though was to take advantage of my professor's office hours when I am having trouble writing a paper.  I never thought of doing so before, but its something I will consider in the future, rather trying to figure it out on my own.