UNIT #3 Argument Synthesis Essay Revision Instructions
This is the most important unit in our first-year writing curriculum. Here, you will have an opportunity to revise your research essay. Your purpose is to improve, in a substantive way, both its style and content.
The first step is to produce a revision memo that responds to your instructor’s feedback from the previous unit. Your revision memo will be comprised of four parts:
- You will write an executive summary that reflects on your instructor’s questions and comments.
- You will respond in writing to the questions that your instructors raise. Your responses should be elaborate and practice the methods of analysis presented in our writing program’s unit assignments.
- You will develop a revision plan that includes specific strategies for improving your essay’s content and style. Again, please focus on your essay’s purpose, audience, arrangement, evidence, implications, and word choice.
- You will raise a series of questions that indicate where you need help.
Once your instructor approves your revision plan, you will begin to execute it. During class, your instructor will provide general revision strategies that are designed to make your essay better. To complete this unit, you will submit a revised essay that will be included in the final portfolio assignment in Unit Five.
In This Unit, We Assume…
- Revision is the most important skill that students learn as writers.
- Revision is a collaborative effort that works best through open-ended questions and elaborate, reflective responses to feedback.
- Successful acts of revision result in substantial changes to your essay.
- Successful revision takes time and practice.
- Successful revision requires active planning.
- Revision is a strategy in critical reading, writing, and thinking.
In This Unit, We Try to…
- Help you understand that the work of revision is both a stage in the writing process and an attitude toward the work of writing.
- Help you develop elaborate, reflective responses to instructor feedback.
- Help you develop sophisticated revision plans that produce substantially revised essays.
- Help you understand the intimate relationship between collaboration and revision.
- Help you realize the best version of your revised essay through meticulous work and focused feedback.
- Help you make informed decisions about how best to use the feedback you receive.
- Help you evaluate whether or not your use of academic research requires revision.
In This Unit, We Ask You to Consider…
- How can I use my instructor’s feedback to develop a substantially revised research essay?
- How can I use comments that I don’t fully agree with to successfully revise my research essay?
- How can I respond to my instructor’s feedback in ways that help me see new avenues for revision?
- How can I develop a revision plan that charts the way toward a successful revision?
- How can I collaborate with my instructors and peers to improve my existing research essay?
- How have I thought about revision to this point and what must change in order for me to become a better writer?
- To what extent do I need to find better academic sources to improve the persuasiveness of my essay?
Key Requirements
- 12-point, Times New Roman
- Double-spaced, 2400 words
- Follow MLA guidelines
- Include MLA in-text citations and Works Cited page