Lesson Details

Library Computer Lab

2014-2015

Principles of English 1, fall 2014

Date

Nov. 21, 2014

Additional Info
Revision and Editing Day

Please read through your essay thoroughly for the following things:
  1. Are you summarizing at all? The only reason you should be doing any summary at all is to provide context for your reader for a larger point you are making. A literary analysis essay is not a book report. I've read the book. You know I've read the book. Don't tell me what it's about.
  2. Are you just listing a bunch of facts? Details from the story must be completely analyzed. Don't just tell me something and then move on to another fact.
  3. Are you making guesses without evidence? You must back up all your points with evidence from the novel. If you are telling that Golding is doing something, you have to have the proof to back it up.
  4. Are you analyzing enough? At this point, it is best to err on the side of too much analysis. Look at your evidence from multiple angles. Discuss the connotations of the words Golding is using. Relate the characters to things in the real world. Make personal connections and observations. 


Only AFTER you are finished revising should you begin the editing process. For editing, consider the following
  1. Read through your entire essay OUT LOUD. It might sound odd and it might make you feel weird, but I promise you, you WILL catch most of your mistakes this way. If something sounds at all odd to your ear, it will certainly sound odd to mine.
  2. Look at your word choices. Are you being vivid and descriptive? Are you using vague words like "good" and "bad" and "really" and "very"? Get rid of them!
  3. Are you using too many adverbs? Only use adverbs if they are essential. Ditch words like "extremely" and "completely" and "totally."
  4. Are you sentence patterns and lengths varied and fresh? Reading through your essay should help with this issue to. Do you sound like a robot when you read? Are most of your sentences the same length and follow the same pattern? Change the order! Combine sentences!
  5. Are you being redundant? If you start anything with the phrases "this means that" or "He is saying that," then you are paraphrasing and saying the same thing twice. Get rid of unneeded repetition.
  6. Are you using formal tone and academic language? Check for ALL uses of "you" and "your." Make sure you don't have any contractions. (Spell everything out!) Have you used any of the analysis phrases that you were given on the analysis starter sheet?