{"id":200,"date":"2014-04-25T14:31:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T20:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writeherewritenowwriteon.wordpress.com\/?p=200"},"modified":"2016-02-04T13:28:40","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T19:28:40","slug":"rainbow-revision-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/rainbow-revision-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow revision"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Shannon Naylor
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently finished a draft of an important research paper. Like most of my first drafts, it needed many improvements before it was ready to be turned in. I printed out a copy, grabbed a red pen, and started editing. By the time I was done with the first page, I could hardly distinguish between the different edits, notes, and proposed additions that littered the page. Frankly, it was a mess. What to do?<\/p>\n

Good revision, like a good paper, is organized so that you can make sense of what editing needs to be done. On my first pass, I hadn\u2019t been looking for specific things to fix, and I had made the edits difficult to read. Here\u2019s the revision strategy that I\u2019ve been using since then in order to polish my papers.<\/p>\n

This particular strategy works best with a hard copy of the paper. It allows you to have a tactile interaction with the process, but you can achieve something similar with Microsoft Word if preferred. I find that it is easiest to use three differently colored pens and a highlighter. Any colors will do so long as they are readable, but I like to use red, blue, and green pens with a yellow highlighter.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Skim through your paper without making any marks to determine what its weaknesses are. (In mine, I needed to fix typos, add commentary, remove repetition, and edit for sentence clarity.)<\/li>\n
  2. On your next pass, cross out typos and poorly phrased or unnecessary sentences with the red pen.<\/li>\n
  3. Write in changes and additions with blue pen.<\/li>\n
  4. Use the green pen to make marginal notes about what each paragraph says and does. (See Put It in Reverse<\/a> for details on this strategy.)<\/li>\n
  5. Go through with the highlighter to mark structural issues or patterns that need to be made visible. (This may change from paper to paper. For example, in one paper I marked places where I repeated words with a highlighter, but in another I used it to indicate where I already had commentary, where it was missing, or where I needed to add more.)<\/li>\n
  6. Celebrate!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    By the end of this revision process, you should have a good understanding of the current state of your paper as well as how you intend to fix it. You\u2019ll be set to have a radical time revising!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Shannon is a junior studying theatre and English with a focus on creative writing. She is looking forward to studying and performing Shakespeare with the England Abroad in the fall. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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