Page 241 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Revising

1 Revise an essay.

In your mind, an idea may seem perfect. Yet when you try to get it on
paper, it tumbles onto the page like a load of rough gravel. Revising

can help you do justice to your ideas and to restore the sparkle that

made you want to express them in the first place.

Beyond matters of style, there are practical reasons for revision,

reasons that have their roots in the difference between writing and
conversation. Conversation is constantly under revision. When your

listener says, “What do you mean?” and you explain, you are revising.

In conversation, revision is a response to the listener. But in writing,

response and revision must take place before your essay meets its

reader. Therefore, you must try to see your work through the eyes of a

reader.

The word revise combines the Latin root meaning to see with the

prefix meaning again. In its most literal sense, to revise means to see

again, and seeing again is exactly what you need to do as you revise.