SQR 3:

Brenda Carmona


ENG 1320/1301. 161

Trang Phan

9/10/10



Nancy Sommers "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writer". National council teachers of English, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1980) pg. 378- 388

SQR 3:

Writing is not a linear process because writing is unpredictable but it can be revised to make the writing better. Speech on the other hand is different it is linear but impossible to be revised because it is said not recorded in writing. Students writers are different from experienced writers in many ways. Student writers look to make their writing fit the meaning and revise on the word and sentence level. Experienced writers look for the meaning through the writing and revise global level with specific attention to the sentence level. Nancy Sommers definition for revision is " a sequence of changes in a composition - changes in which are initiated by cues and occur continually throughout the writing of a work".Brittons belives "that revision is simply the further growth of what is already there, the "preconceived" product". Some good techniques for revision that are used as student writers and experienced writers are reviewing and re-doing, scratching over it and doing it over again, marking out, slashing, and throwing out stuff that doesn't make sense. These are many ways to revise your own paper to make it better.

Question: Why cant writing be compared to speech?

Response: `Writing is is not a linear function because what we write is unpredictable and we can revise it over and over till it is the best out of the other drafts. Speech is different it is linear because we know what is going to be said and is impossible to be revised so because of that a major part of the writing system is being left out. Revision in speech though is an afterthought.