Argument Essay Revising Workshop

 

  • On a separate sheet of paper, summarize your argument as if currently appears on the page, including individual claims.

  • Have you offered sufficient evidence to support this argument?  Which claims could you prove more thoroughly?

  • Do you have an explicitly stated thesis?  Please write it on a separate sheet.  Is it specific, complex, and compelling?  How could you improve it now that you are more clear on what your paper’s argument is?    

  • Are your paragraphs focused, tackling a single idea without meandering off in different directions?  In order to determine this, write the main point of each paragraph in the margin beside it.  If you can’t, or there are several points, that indicates a strong need for revision.

  • Identify at least five sentences in your paper that are wordy.  Go through and cross out any extraneous words, or simply rewrite the sentence more concisely. 

  • Now make a reverse outline of your paper to determine its structure.  List out the main points on a separate sheet of paper and put them in outline form.  Are your points presented in a clear, logical order or do they seem disorganized and disconnected?  Are there meaningful transitions between each point? 

  • Next underline or highlight the five things you like the most about your paper, the sentences, quotes, evidence, claims, or paragraphs that you think are the strongest.

  • Now get rid of everything else.  Yes, I am completely serious.  Read your paper again and GUT IT!  Cross out full paragraphs that are just taking up space.  Eliminate sentences that are repetitious, vague, or unnecessary.  Identify which paragraphs need to be completely rewritten so that they are clear and concise. 

  • I EXPECT YOU TO GET RID OF OR SIGNIFICANTLY REVISE AT LEAST ONE FULL PAGE OF YOUR PAPER.  You might do this sentence by sentence or in big chunks.  You are not revising this; you are rewriting it. 
     
  • Now that you’ve eliminated a full page, what should take its place?  Will you take the same claims and rewrite and prove them more effectively?  Will you add new claims and new evidence where your argument was weakly supported?  If you are low on material it’s possible that you will even have to go online and conduct more research.  Don’t look at this rewriting process as a horrible task; consider it a chance to get a much higher grade than you would have if I had simply graded the originals.        

With the final draft of this essay, you must turn in your marked up rough draft and completed revision worksheet with reverse outline.  Everything must be stapled or clipped neatly. 

 

 

Before you turn your paper in:

 

Reread the assignment sheet.  Does your paper fulfill all of the requirements? 

 

Now reread your paper carefully for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Never, ever turn an assignment in without reading it over first. 

 

 

Your final paper will be graded as follows:

 

25%  Organization

30%  Argument and Supporting Evidence

20%  Language, Grammar, Style

20%  Revisions and quality of rough draft

5%    Format, length, and citation requirements