Revising Like an Expert Inventing Drafting Revising Inexperienced

Revising Like an Expert Inventing Drafting Revising Inexperienced Writer 50% 45% 05% Experienced Writer 25% 35% 40% Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

Specific Revising Strategies Ø Ø Leave sufficient time for revising Take time out Read the document critically Revise on all levels Content quality Persuasive emphasis Format conventions Paragraph organization Sentence structure Word choice Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

More Revising Strategies Ø Revise in several sweeps Ø Make a paper copy Ø Read your document aloud “The engineer prepared the specifications, purchased the materials, supervised the construction and reviewing the completed job. ” “The engineer preparing the budget. ” Ø Read the document backward Ø Check the outline of the document Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

More Revising Strategies Ø Make a list of recurring problems Things to Edit for: 1) Comma Splices 2) Unnecessary Passives 3) Empty Openers 4) Vague “This” Subjects 5) General Words 6) Talkie Verbs 7) Too many qualifiers 8) “Indeed” & “Really” Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

More Revising Strategies Ø Ø Find a reader Use the buddy system Rewrite the introduction Carefully review edited sentences “Abracadabra Incorporated now has ownership of 60% of the stock. ” “Abracadabra Incorporated now owns of 60% of the stock. ” Ø Break the so-called “rules” when appropriate Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

Perfectionism and Revising Ø Set clear limits on the amount of time and energy you will invest in editing. Ø Focus more attention on the high-level task of revising rather than on the low-level task of editing. Ø Ask readers to clarify their reactions to documents that you have written, noting the differences between your assumptions and their actual responses. Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

Boredom and Revising Ø Increase the challenge of the task by focusing on more complex elements of the task (i. e. , revising to address readers’ expectations rather than editing for correct word choice). Ø Increase motivation by considering the task as a small part of something with a more important purpose. Ø Do the least interesting tasks first and save the more interesting tasks for later. Ø Ask whether the boredom is actually masking a difficulty with the tasks. Ø Accept that not everything is interesting and set up a system to help return your attention to the task when it wanders (e. g. , use a checklist). Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

The Problem with English Spelling Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication

Spelling Checkers How did the following errors get into documents that were spell checked? Ø gurantee Ø effiecient Ø inexspensive Ø farady Ø indepenent Ø accross Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication guarantee efficient inexpensive Faraday independent across

Grammar Checkers Whitmore/Stevenson: Strategies for Engineering Communication