Revising Narratives

STANDARD 1.0 Writing Strategies w Level 2

Focus: Students revise original drafts to improve sequence and provide more descriptive detail.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR

REVISING NARRATIVES

Revision is a step in the process of creating written works in which you make sure you have said exactly what you meant to say. When you revise, you make changes to your original draft to make it better -- to improve its coherence and progression -- by adding, deleting, consolidating, and rearranging text.

Begin by reading your paper to yourself, out loud (but quietly), and listen for whether it really says what you wanted it to say. Pay attention to your use of different types of sentences, your choice of words, and how you express your ideas. Make sure the events in your story have a logical progression and that you have provided a lot of descriptive details to paint a vivid picture in the minds of your readers. Change whatever you feel needs to be fixed. You may need to switch the order or location of certain sentences, take out or add words or thoughts, or make other changes that will enhance your writing by making it clearer or better.

Then meet with two other classmates (one at a time) or a small group of classmates and have them read your work to see if they too can understand your writing. Listen to their suggestions and give serious consideration to incorporating (using) them.

Here are two questions you and others should use as a revising checklist:

Does my writing provide a thoroughly developed sequence of events to relate ideas, observations, and/or memories?

Does my writing include vivid descriptive language and sensory details that enable my readers to visualize the events or experiences?

Once you and two of your classmates have reviewed your piece, thinking about and evaluating it on the basis of the above two questions, rewrite your composition on another sheet of paper incorporating the adopted revisions.