Touchstone 3: Informative Essay Revision
BEFORE YOU START
Consider revisiting the Unit 3 tutorial The Purpose of Revising. You might find it helpful to use the revising strategies to manage your time, to catch mistakes by reading aloud, to revise by asking questions about your own writing, and to make final revisions by printing out your paper and making revision notes.
ASSIGNMENT: Review the rubric comments and summary feedback you received on your Touchstone 2.2 draft to deepen and extend your analysis of your topic. Submit a revision of your Touchstone 2.2 draft that reflects the feedback. Include a copy of your Touchstone 2.2 draft below the “Think About Your Writing” questions for this unit.
Sample Revised Image Analysis Essay
Sample Revised Extended Definition Essay
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
A. DIRECTIONS
STEP 1: REVISE THE INFORMATIVE ESSAYAll writers revise their work as part of the writing process. For Touchstone 3, submit a revised version of your Touchstone 2.2 informative essay. The process of revising involves “re-thinking” your essay. Your revision should reflect your attention to the following:
Rhetorical situation
Focus
Organization
Flow
Style
Clarity
As you review the grader’s suggestions and feedback of your draft, evaluate how your essay can be improved in each of the areas above. Focus your attention on the areas that would benefit most from revision. You can add, delete, or move text as you revise your essay.
Note the following revision guidelines:
Do not draft a new essay on a new topic. You must revise your Touchstone 2.2 draft using the feedback provided.
Allow time between drafts so that you can see your original work from a new perspective.
Revision is different from editing and proofreading; however, be sure to edit and proofread your revised essay before you submit it.
BIG IDEA
Revise your Touchstone 2.2 essay using the revision strategies you learned in Unit 3. This revision should reflect significant changes from your first draft, and should incorporate the feedback you received on Touchstone 2.2.STEP 2. THINK ABOUT YOUR WRITINGInclude answers to all of the following reflection questions below your completed revision.
How much time did you spend revising your draft? Which revision strategies did you use, and which of them worked best for you? (2-3 sentences)Sophia says: A good revision takes time. This is your opportunity to re-think, rearrange, and re-evaluate your writing. Which revision strategies did you use? Do you still agree with your thesis? Do you believe that your evidence supports your thesis and that you have met the requirements of the assignment?
How did the revision process improve your essay? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Compare your draft to your revision. Have you added relevant details or removed irrelevant ones? Have you changed the order of details or paragraphs? Have you added transitions for better flow? In which ways is your revision better than your draft?
What did you learn about your writing process or yourself as a writer? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Think about the entire process of drafting and revising this essay. Did any part of the process surprise you or reveal something unexpected?
STEP 3. REVIEW RUBRIC AND CHECKLISTYour essay and reflection will be scored according to the Informative Rubric, which considers your revision and edits, effectiveness in addressing the writing prompt for either the advertisement image analysis essay OR the extended definition essay, the working thesis, organization, style and tone, focus, conventions and proofreading, and your responses to the “Think About Your Writing” questions.
Refer to the checklist below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
Editing and Revising
❒ Have you significantly revised your essay, making adjustments in areas that include organization, focus, and clarity?
❒ Have you made comprehensive changes in word choice, sentence variety, and style?
❒ Have you made revisions that are based on the feedback provided by your evaluator?
Essay Prompt: Image Analysis
❒ If you chose the image analysis prompt, have you revisited your analysis and interpretation of the image’s use of design components to ensure that you’ve done more than describe the ad?
❒ Have you revisited your conclusions about the audience and effectiveness of the ad?
❒ Did you include the image in your essay?
❒ Is your draft 800-1300 words long?
Essay Prompt: Extended Definition
❒ If you chose the extended definition prompt, did you make sure that your definition extends the definition and doesn’t rely too heavily on the traditional definition?
❒ Did you revisit the examples and explanations that support your definition?
❒ Is your essay 800-1300 words in length?
Thesis
❒ Have you revised your thesis statement?
❒ Did you make sure that your thesis states the overall claim of the essay?
❒ Is your thesis one sentence that is located toward the end of the introductory paragraph?
Focus and Organization
❒ Have you reviewed your body paragraphs and made sure that each one has a clear topic sentence restating the subject and main point covered in that body paragraph?
❒ Have you revisited your conclusion paragraph and final thoughts?
❒ Have you reviewed the sequence of your ideas?
❒ Have you improved your transitions to connect ideas between sentences and paragraphs?
❒ Have you improved the flow of your essay?
❒ Does your revision have a clear focus?
❒ Have you maintained a clear focus and included only relevant details?
Style and Tone
❒ Have you ensured that the tone of your essay is unbiased and informative?
❒ Have you informed the reader about your topic avoiding the first person and/or framing personal examples in an objective way?
❒ Have you reconsidered your word choices?
Conventions
❒ Have you checked your draft for grammatical errors?
❒ Have you used spell-check or another method to check spelling?
❒ Have you punctuated your essay correctly?
Before You Submit
❒ Have you included your name, date, and course at the top left of the page?
❒ Have you completed the “Think About Your Writing” questions?
❒ Is your essay between three and five pages (approximately 800-1300 words) in length?