Analytical and Rhetorical Writing

1
Editing, Revising, and Proofreading

• Analytical and Rhetorical Writing
• Matt Barton

2
Definitions

• Editing
• Decide what should be changed
• Revising
• Make those changes
• Proofreading
• Find and correct simple errors

3
Editing

• Editing can be broken into three steps
• Carefully read the text to be edited.
• Identify the point of the sentence.
• Decide if there is a better way to make the
  point.

4
When to edit?

• Some writers wait until they are finished
  drafting before editing.
• Others alternate between drafting, editing,
  revising, and proofreading.
• What way works best for you?

5
Types of Editing

• Macro Editing considers the document as a whole.
  
• Has the writer followed the assignment?
• Are the paragraphs in a proper order?
• Is the paper well developed?
• Micro Editing considers the parts.
• Can this idea be expressed more concisely?
• Are the word choices precise?
• Does the title accurately reflect the document?

6
Macro Level Editing

• Focus
• Did the writer follow instructions?
• Is the paper focused on a single topic?
• Does the paper have a discernible point?
• Organization
• Does the paper have a coherent setup?
• Does the introduction and conclusion fit the rest
  of the paper?
• Are paragraphs coherent and unified?

7
Micro Level Editing

• Development
• Is each claim supported by good evidence?
• Does the writer explain concepts the audience
  needs to know?
• Is there a sufficient level of detail?
• Style
• Are sentences clear, concise, and precise?
• Is the papers tone appropriate for the audience?
• Is the paper boring or interesting?
• Conventions
• Is the paper free of grammatical and mechanical
  errors?

8
Editing for Concision

• Balance concision and precision with elegance
• Concision Writing a lot with a little.
• Precision Writing exactly what you mean
• Elegance Writing in a pleasing way.

9
A Lack of Concision

• Writing that lacks concision is boring and
  difficult to read
• In todays society, this paper, which is actually
  the paper you are reading at this very moment, is
  actually turgid, and it is so turgid, that you
  and anyone else who may want to read this would
  find it turgid as well.

10
One Minute Prompt 1

• Make this writing more concise
• It is very, very important for writers to avoid a
  lot of confusion when they go about writing and
  to put down as much information--that is, as many
  words--as the reader actually needs in order to
  understand what the writer means when he or she
  says what it is he or she is saying.

11
Active vs. Passive

• Too much passive voice can make a paper boring.
• In this paper the contrast of dislocations in
  icosahedral quasicrystals is discussed in the
  framework of the quasilattice model and on the
  basis of the kinematical theory of electron
  diffraction.
• Since, at present, little is known about the
  structure of quasicrystal dislocations, our
  treatment is restricted to the derivation of
  conditions under which the diffraction contrast
  vanishes and the dislocations become invisible.
• Some basic structural properties of quasilattices
  and quasilattice dislocations are first
  discussed.

12
First Person

• Sometimes the effort to avoid first person (I,
  me) can make writing seem boring
• While some evaluation specialists disagree, this
  writer believes that a well-planned evaluation
  effort begins with clearly established goals.
• Therefore, it was not possible for the author to
  be involved in the goal establishment process.

13
When to Use First Person

• If you find it desirable or necessary to include
  a personal anecdote, consider using first person
• While I would have preferred to establish goals
  for evaluating the Very Special Arts programs
  before their inception, I was unable to do so
  because the programs had been operating for three
  years in ten cities.
• If you have personal information thats useful or
  important, use first person.

14
When Not to Use First Person

• Avoid I believe, In my opinion, Personally,
  I think, and so on.
• The reader assumes you are presenting your
  opinions and beliefs otherwise, you would not
  write them!
• I believe that writers should use first person.
• Writers should use first person.

15
To Be Verbs

• Verbs like is and are should be used
  sparingly.
• While it is crucial for us to speak out on
  behalf of education, it is important that we do
  so in a manner consistent with statute and
  administrative rules.
• We need to speak out on behalf of education
  while observing statute and administrative rules.

16
Sentence Construction

• Place the Subject in the Beginning of the
  Sentence.
• Confusing If you write every morning for at
  least fifteen minutes, if you set aside the urge
  to criticize early drafts and ideas, if you
  analyze your rhetorical situation for a document,
  if you ask critical questions of your drafts, if
  you share drafts with colleagues, then you will
  improve quickly as a writer.
• Avoid Excessive Embedding Between the Subject and
  Verb.
• Confusing Research suggests that sentence
  combining, an instructional technique that
  provides students with practice in the
  manipulation of various sentence patterns, is
  effective in developing the syntactical fluency
  of writers, elementary through college level.

17
Preposition Disposition

• Avoid stringing together too many prepositional
  phrases.
• Confusing The major objective of this study was
  to determine the perceived effects of the union
  on monetary and on non-monetary aspects of
  compensation over the period in which respondents
  to the survey had been union members.  
• Better This study examines how the union affects
  monetary and non-monetary aspects of
  compensation.

18
Verbs and Nouns

• Maintain a high verb to noun ratio
• Confusing The assumption that creative ability
  has a relationship to intelligence warrants
  further examination.
• Better We must examine how creative ability
  relates to intelligence.
• Confusing This introduction is a rough
  conception of the assumptions about the
  decision-making process underlying the
  conception Decisions about belief or action
  generally occur in the context of some problem
  and have some basis.
• Better We can assume that decisions occur in
  response to problems.  

19
Avoiding Nominalizations

• A nominalization is a verb that has been
  converted into a noun form.
• Examine Examination
• Orient Orientation
• Computerization, Operationalization,
  Politicization
• Try to avoid nominalizations and use the verb
  form instead
• The ecologist performed an investigation
  concerning the mysterious green smog.
• The ecologist investigated the mysterious green
  smog.

20
Pathos and Tone

• Consider the emotional message your sentences are
  sending to the audience
• When you teach your first class, you will notice
  how unintelligent, ungrateful, inattentive, and
  ill-mannered your students can be.
• First-time teachers should bear in mind that not
  all of their students will be as attentive,
  polite, and engaged as they themselves were as
  students.

21
Revising Strategies

• You should be very careful when making changes to
  your draft because you may accidentally add
  errors.
• Read the revised sentence carefully and then
  re-read the entire paragraph or section.

22
Proofreading

• Proofreading is difficult and sometimes tedious,
  yet it must be done if you want to earn an A on
  your paper!
• Dont proofread until youre happy with your
  document and feel that no more editing is
  necessary.

23
Proofreading Steps

• Dont try to proofread for everything at once.
• Tenses Check each verb to ensure you havent
  skipped from past to present.
• Modifiers Ensure your adjectives and adverbs are
  in the right place and that the words they modify
  are in the sentence.
• Pronouns Ensure your pronouns agree with their
  antecedents, paying particular attention to words
  like everybody and they.

24
Proofreading Steps

• Missing Words Check carefully to make sure you
  havent omitted a necessary word.
• Fragments, Run-Ons Check for sentences that
  start with conjunctions (for, and, but) or
  clauses joined incorrectly.
• Spelling Look out for homonyms, or words that
  sound alike are mean different things
  there/their, sell/sale, effect/affect.

25
Proofreading Strategies

• Print the document and work from paper
• Read the document aloud or have someone else read
  it to you
• Take the paper line-by-line and carefully check
  each sentence
• Try starting from the bottom and working your way
  up towards the top
• Break the paper into small sections and proofread
  each section individually

26
ProofreadingTest Yourself

• How many times does the letter F appear in this
  sentence?
• FOR CENTURIES IMPORTANT PROJECTS HAVE BEEN
  DEFERRED BY WEEKS OF INDECISION AND MONTHS OF
  STUDY AND YEARS OF FORMAL DEBATE.