It's Like Kindergarten All Over Again! - Blog #9

Now if I'm being honest here, arriving to this point has been a little stressful and I haven't been the most willing to work, but (surprisingly) I ended up really enjoying this step in the writing process! This exercise is called the Cut-and-Paste Revision, and you do exactly what the title says. I'll explain all the steps and then I will reflect back on my work in the end. I promise, this makes writing essays seem fun!

Step 1:
On a separate piece of paper, write down your thesis (main idea) and make sure it's plainly stated and fully captures what you're trying to say in your essay. Set the thesis aside.

Step 2:
Cut apart a copy of your paper, paragraph by paragraph. Once you've finished cutting them out, shuffle the stack of paragraphs and get them wildly out of order so that your original draft is nothing but a memory.

Step 3:
Bring back the thesis paper and now start to work through the stack of paragraphs, making it into two stacks: paragraphs that are specifically relevant to the thesis and paragraphs that don't seem as relevant. Be tough! Scrutinize your work honestly because the point of this is to determine whether or not each paragraph is there for a reason. Ask yourself this question: Does this paragraph (or part) develop my thesis and further the purpose of my paper? Or does it seem unnecessary that could possibly be focusing on a different topic?

Step 4:
Here comes the fun part! Step aside your irrelevant paragraphs and now focus on the relevant ones. Ask yourself these specific questions and mark each paragraph with which question it relates to:

• Does it provide important evidence that supports my main point?
• Does it explain something that's key to understanding what I'm trying to say?
• Does it illustrate a key concept?
• Does it help establish the importance of what I'm trying to say?
• Does it raise (or answer) a question that I must explore, given what I'm trying to say?

Step 5:
Now that you understand what your paragraphs contain, start to assemble another draft of your essay. Don't be afraid to mix up the order that you had when you started. Find which order makes your essay flow the best and easy to be understood. On another piece of paper, job down a few ideas for material you might add, explain further, or even take out. Look for gaps - places where you should add information. After assembling your new draft, you may even find use for your "irrelevant" paragraphs that could help your essay in this new order.

Reflection:
I don't know about you, but I found this process extremely helpful in understanding what was irrelevant, relevant, and what made those paragraphs ir/relevant. By the end, I had taken out two paragraphs that were completely unnecessary in my paper, plus I had come up with a completely new order for my paragraphs. I also think after writing some additional paragraphs, I'm going to use this process again just for safety's sake. This can only help me, right?