5.7: Conclusion

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This is a useful time to say that even the best advice cannot always be put into effect in an essay revision. Sometimes it just doesn’t fit the current plan for the essay. thoughtful choice about using feedback for revision is always necessary. Try to be able to explain your choices, as I have in this chapter, if you are questioned about your revision choices by your instructor or peers.

As my comments throughout this essay suggest, there are various areas for continued research before deciding that this piece (or any essay) is finished. Additionally, it’s important to remember that any revised draft needs a final set of actions before it’s ready for “publication” to an instructor or other audience. Accepting revision changes,
spellchecking, and proofreading are all necessary editing steps to create a presentation draft. At that point, in a school setting, this essay would be ready for grading. In a more public setting, such as a “letter to the editor” of a newspaper or magazine, it would be ready for mailing. In both cases, readers might suggest additional changes before it would be assessed.

To teach you how to make similar decisions with the same kinds of resources, this chapter shows how I made many of my writing and revision decisions in an argumentative essay. Although my comments indicate that additional revisions could make the argument stronger, all writers must stop writing at some point and call the writing
“done,” even if it feels only semi-finished. Hopefully, however, before calling the piece done, you’ve learned that putting focused hours into the writing can help to develop a strong essay that conveys thoughtfully developed meaning. As you begin your next essay, apply whatever version of this brainstorming, zero draft, research, preliminary draft,
feedback, revision, and presentation draft approach that may fit your own writing process. I think you’ll find yourself working hard while enjoying your writing more!