Empoword

Appendix A: Concepts and Strategies for Revision 454 Appendix A Concepts and Strategies for Revision Let’s start with a few definitions. What is an essay? It’s likely that your teachers have been asking you to write essays for years now; you’ve probably formed some idea of the genre. But when I ask my students to define this kind of writing, their answers vary widely and only get at part of the meaning of “essay.” Although we typically talk of an essay (noun), I find it instructive to think about essay (verb): to try; to test; to explore; to attempt to understand. An essay (noun), then, is an attempt and an exploration. Popularized shortly before the Enlightenment Era by Michel de Montaigne, the essay form was invested in the notion that writing invites discovery: the idea was that he, as a lay-person without formal education in a specific discipline, would learn more about a subject through the act of writing itself. What difference does this new definition make for us, as writers? • Writing invites discovery . Throughout the act of writing, you will learn more about your topic. Even though some people think of writing as a way to capture a fully-formed idea, writing can also be a way to process through ideas: in other words, writing can be an act of thinking. It forces you to look closer and see more. Your revisions should reflect the knowledge you gain through the act of writing. • An essay is an attempt, but not all attempts are successful on the first try. You should give yourself license to fail, to an extent. If to essay is to try, then it’s okay to fall short. Writing is also an iterative process, which means your first draft isn’t the final product. Now, what is revision? You may have been taught that revision means fixing commas, using a thesaurus to brighten up word choice, and maybe tweaking a sentence or two. However, I prefer to think of revision as “re | vision.” "Effort" b y JM Fumeau i s licensed unde r CC BY-ND 2.0