“so i finished my first draft!” “good for you.” “now what?”
TRANSCRIPT
“So I finished my first draft!”
“Good for you.”
“Now what?”
1) First thing to do when revising a draft:
• Ask yourself, “What is my purpose, and how well does my current draft complete that purpose?”
• “What are the strong and weak elements of the piece that affect how well my purpose is expressed?”
2) Second thing to ask:
“Does my draft complete the requirements?”
• Does it tell a single, cohesive story?• Does the story have a moral message?• All FOUR writing tools involved?
3) Third thing to do:
Decide which specific revisions need to be made.
• “Do I need to focus on one particular section or the unity of the work as a whole? What changes to that section need to take place?”
• “What should I add to impact my piece? Is there anything I should take out? What should I adjust?”
The Final Cut: Perfecting your paper
Title your paperTake a cliché and alter it to your paper.• “The Lion, the Witch, and the Hairdryer”• “I Was the Best of Teens, I Was the Worst of
Teens”No Unnecessary Question Marks:
Pineapples???A Day at Laser Tag???
Grammar, Spelling Punctuation…yes, it counts
Read it out loud.Note punctuation:
Comma Rules!Dialogue and Quotation marksParagraphs help, you know.Circle things you aren’t sure about and ASK!!!
Finally, Get Feedback
Read it to yourself.Get a friend to read it.Get Mr. C to read it.Get another teacher to read it.Get a parent to read it.Read it to yourself again.
When you’re done with your
new draft, start the
revision process over
again!