#WritingTip: Arguments in long-form writing have a lot of layers and it's vital for writers to think about hierarchy so they can signal the relative importance of subclaims to readers. Here's an exercise from #RevisionStrategies that can help you start to do that kind of thinking:
#WritingTip: In order for academic writing to be persuasive, it needs to effectively mobilize well-selected evidence that appeals to your intended audience. We've got strategies to help you with this! Take a look at the Evidence and Analysis page on our #RevisionStrategies guide:
Revision is a huge part of writing but it can be hard to enact changes in response to feedback. You might know what you need to do but not know how to do it. Check out our #RevisionStrategies guide for practical, step-by-step exercises that can help you move forward:
#WritingTip: Remember that writing is about communicating your ideas to an intended audience, which means stepping outside your own perspective to determine what context they might need. Here's an exercise to get you started from our #RevisionStrategies guide:
4 Expert Tips to Ace Your Cambridge Assessment – From Revision to Results Day
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#CambridgeAssessment #StudyTips #ExamPreparation #RevisionStrategies #StudentSuccess #AcademicExcellence #ResultsDay #StudySmart #UKStudents #ExamTips
Considering how to successfully orient readers is key to revision @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social and we've got a range of strategies to help you with this challenging work! Check out the Orienting section of #RevisionStrategies to learn more: gcwritingcenter.commons.gc.cuny.edu/rs_orienting...
Reverse outlining is an adaptable strategy that makes the structure of a text more visible. Whereas writers create outlines in the pre-drafting stage to move from ideas to a draft, they create reverse outlines at varying points in the revision stage to help them take a step back from a completed draft and make key decisions about structure and content. There are different ways to approach reverse outlining, but the basic exercise involves reading through a completed draft, summarizing each paragraph in one or two sentences, and putting those sentences in a bulleted outline to create a skeletal version of the text. This helps writers assess how readers might experience their current structure, as well as whether each paragraph is making the claim that they think it is and includes sufficient evidence. Sometimes, writers use reverse outlining on a smaller scale to understand the structure of a particular section of their writing (e.g. a chapter in a book or a section in an article), or even to think through how they are structuring sentences within a single paragraph. If a writer has concerns about a specific dimension of their project, they can create a reverse outline with that in mind. For instance, if a writer wants to understand what role their sources are playing in the current draft, they might create sub-bullets for each paragraph that capture all their evidence and color-code it so that they can see when and how they are using each source. Alternatively, if a writer wants to assess whether they are effectively connecting their sub-claims to their central claim, they might use sub-bullets to capture all the sentences where they forge those kinds of connections so that they can spot places where they might need to do more of that work. Reverse outlining can also be used as a reading strategy; creating a reverse outline of someone else’s text can help the reader more readily understand the parts of the argument and how they work together to support the claim.
Missed our reverse outlining workshop @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social ? That's ok! Read our definition in the #RevisionStrategies Glossary and then put it into practice with exercises like "Is Your First Draft Disorganized? Reverse Outlining as a Method to Discover Structure." buff.ly/YwUE7pT
If you're struggling with structuring your argument, check out the "Structure" section of our #RevisionStrategies page @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social ! Each entry addresses a common issue that writers face and offers a practical strategy you can use to revise your work:
Finishing a first draft can help writers clarify their argument, but also leave them with a structure that may not make sense to readers. That's where reverse outlining comes in @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social ! Check out our entry on disorganized drafts here: buff.ly/d72mdn8 #RevisionStrategies
