2000 words 14 hrs

The revision plan addresses two main issues: 1) What you plan to revise in your paper; 2) How you plan to revise the “what” you have identified. It serves as a guide for you during the next step of the writing process.

This revision plan, for example, does not do a very good job at setting you up for a successful revision:

1. Revise my thesis

2. Add more examples

3. Correct my citations

4. Cut out some fluff

5. Fix grammar

While these tasks may be a good place to start, they are so general that they could apply to almost any essay. Your plan should be as specific as possible—the more specific you can be, the better your revision.

The following is an example of a revision plan from a student in the past. Note the differences between this and the list above. Remember to pay close attention to the prompt for your current essay—it is not the same as the prompt for the assignment below. In other words, do not simply recreate this example.

1. Revise my thesis. Right now, my thesis argues an issue, that not recycling is immoral. I need to make the topic a problem to be solved rather than an issue to be argued. Here's what I'm thinking: "In order to solve the problem of consumer waste, consumers should be given incentives to recycle . . .".

2. I need to give more examples of how the problem has been solved in the past, and failed. I admit I need more focused research on the history of the problem. A source I might turn to is the Carolina Reader article on “The Ethics of Recycling.” I read it but did not include it in the paper. I also should do more research to find other sources which support my specific position, which would offer a solution. So, I need to find solutions that have worked in the past and cite those as exemplary evidence.

3. My in-text citations seem to include years of publication, which aren't needed, and I need to remove author's last names from citation markers if I have the author's names in the signal phrases, and then put the article titles in the citation markers instead. I also need to set off a couple of long quotes (of more than four lines).

4. I have a whole section after the problem that repeats a lot of the information in the intro. It defines the problem more as the conclusion of the essay, but I already defined the problem, so I think I can cut most of this material. I was just padding space to meet the page count requirement, but I'll meet the requirements by adding in good, purposeful information to develop the solution. By good and purposeful information, I mean by adding more details from cited sources (see 2 and 3 above), but furthermore, I know I need to analyze this information. By analyze, I mean I need to show how the evidence I provide supports the claim I make.

5. [There would be no "correct grammar" statement; that's a given! Addressing grammar, spelling, and punctuation are editing/proofreading issues, which should take place AFTER you revise]

The biggest thing to notice here is that revision plans are detailed; they refer to the specifics of your essay rather than generalities. If your plan could be applied to another essay, it isn’t working hard enough for you.