The word revision is a noun that is derived from the verb revise. To revise has more than one meaning depending on where it is being mentioned. In the US it refers to changing something or to reconsider it based on newly acquired information. This may be a book, an assignment, an article, or even statement. In Britain to revise refers to studying especially in preparation for examinations. Revision thus refers the work that has been revised in the US and the act of revising in Britain. In this article, Revision will be discussed in light of the US definition of the term. Moreover, the area of schoolwork revision will be discussed; the views of teachers on their student’s revision and whether or not these views are right will be mentioned. In articles provides, the area of revision is covered all round. The writers look into the impact of the revision on the meaning of the work.
`The first article is by Lester Faigley and Stephen Witte and focuses on the topic revision itself and expounds on its meaning and the different types of the same. Here the reader learns that during revision, small things such as capitalization, punctuation, addition and removal of information from work that is being revised; can change the meaning all together . The text states that,“Linda Flower and John R. Hayes have attempted to study the causes of revision by soliciting verbal protocols that provide a running account of a writer's conscious activities during composing”.
According to the research done by the authors, most students are not keen on looking into these details or protocols of revision. In fact, majority of them believe that revisions should be avoided at all cost. It is crucial to note however, that a student’s attitude towards revision is very important as it determines how well they do it and has several benefits. In the second article, the writer, Nancy Sommers, focuses on the methods that different people use in during their revision. Here, both students and experts are all viewed in light of their different methods of revision . The writer carries out an in depth study of the methods and strategies of students and professionals in their revision and gives reason for their choices based on the case study that was carried out. In the third article, Linda Flower her fellow writers give a general approach to the topic and later on divides the work into smaller topics such as theoretical perspective of the topic, the process of revision and how it works among other things.
The writers state that they had recently conducted a research to explain why revision is done and what can be achieved from it. In this research, Linda Flower and her fellow writers used the approach of studying language and the protocols that exist in verbally spoken language. They studied how spoken language can affect the way a person constructs his or her piece of work and how they communicate through writing. After undertaking this research, they discovered that verbal protocols have great effect on the writing abilities of writers. In fact, many writers are constantly reviewing their work as they continue doing it and tend to take a while before constructing the exact kind of piece that they will feel satisfied with. According to their research, this reviews done significantly improve the writing skills of the person and unconsciously exercise the memory. Many teachers have therefore begun pushing their students into taking revisions. The technique that the researchers used during their research revealed the effect of revision is greater in high school and college students than in later years. Most students do not consider a lot of things when doing their revisions. It is crucial for one, a student especially, to note that taking into account words, sentence construction, capitalization and punctuation, adding or removing parts of a passage or rewriting it can completely change the meaning; leading to miscommunication. Student writing lays the foundation for greater works in future. Unfortunately, majority of the students do not think of this during their revisions. In most cases, they end up completely distorting its original meaning. College freshmen are therefore encouraged to study these principals and apply them, not only for good grades but also for memory improvement. Students of foreign languages are also required to apply this principle, as it is crucial during translation. Thus taxonomy is of great importance during writing and even more during revision.
The second writer, that is Nancy Sommers, visits this topic from a different perspective. According to the article revision as a topic is hardly ever discussed and is in fact somewhat ignored. The argument here is that in speech, once words have been spoken, it cannot be undone. Therefore there does not exist revision in speech. If a person comes back later and states that they have a different idea from the first they had spoken, the idea is not viewed as a revision rather one says that they have reconsidered or have an afterthought. This principle is also applicable to students. A presentation once made cannot be undone or revised. In writing however, once something is written, it can always be reviewed or revised to come up with the final draft hence writing makes possible what to speech is impossible. She views the verbal kind of communication as linear and asserts that it is broken down into segments, with each segment being different from the other. She also believes that written code has fewer stages from the spoken or verbal one. This theory is something for students of philosophy and other similar subjects to ponder over and draw conclusions, as it is quite mind-boggling.
Her complaint is that in as much as the writer has liberty to change his or her mind at any time, scholars of linear modules have made this difficult. According to the linear modules, there is no such thing as revision as the spoken or written has already taken place. She states that, “What is impossible in speech is revision”.This means that revisiting one’s work and redoing it to get the final work is just as it one that changes his or her mind and claims to have revisited. In other words, revision is reduced to simply an afterthought rather than a second chance of making things right. Consequently, the study of revision as a subject becomes very difficult and nearly impossible. According to this article, Nancy defines revision as repeating a part of writing, restructuring rephrasing or reorganizing of one’s work. In this way such models make the study of revision impossible. She also wonders why the subject of revision is hardly given attention or researched on. She also looks into the issue of students’ revisions stating that they can only correct their work rather than revise it.
In her research, Nancy came across certain activities that are common in revision. She categorized them into four major categories; these being, substitution, deletion, rearrangement and addition. Like in the first article, his research involved both professional or expert writers, and students. She airs her concerns about students’ revisions stating that they hardly utilize the most of these modes of revision. These methods or activities of revision were found in all the revisions done whether by students or experts. It was also discovered that there were four levels in which changes were made during revision. These included; phrases, words, themes and sentences. The writer also looks into the attitude of students and professional writers towards revision. She states that, “students understand the revision process as a rewording activity”. This means that all they do is re-word or rephrase their sentences. Following her findings, majority of the students were not very positive towards the term revision as they associated it with school and failure. In their description, most students preferred to give it another name other than revision and were in fact uncomfortable with the topic. It was also noted that majority of the students valued the use of big and impressive words, and would rephrase their sentences during revision. Students were not necessarily concerned with detail and articulation.
In the third article, Linder Flower and her fellow writers look into the process of revision itself. They looked into the different views of experts and amateurs in writing. Moreover, they explored their theories of the process of revision. The research was geared at deducing the considerations made by novice and expert writers respectively. Students for instance, which participated in this survey, were not concerned about the quality of the work or the message or theme of the work. They in fact hated revisions and just wanted to get the job done. Therefore, the students did little or not thinking during their revisions. Consequently, the tool most used in this case was that of deleting. This is evident in the statement “The goal, as they describe it, is to fix errors rather than rethink; the primary tool is deletion”. This however should not be the case since revision expands one’s ability to store information and makes one more active and alert . This was part of the discovery made during this research. The only thing students cared about when taking any revision was to get rid of the mistakes.
Works Cited
Faigley, Lester and Stephen Witte. "Analyzing Revision." College Composition and
Communication (1981): 32 (4), 400-414. Print.
Flower, Linda, et al. "Detection, Diagnosis, and the Strategies of Revision." College
Composition and Communication (1986): 37 (1), 16-55 . Print.
Sommers, Nancy. "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult
Print.
