Well known for her research and publications on student writing, Nancy Sommers—now Harvard’s Expository Writing Program Director—discusses the student’s revision strategies on her journal College Composition and Communication: a compilation of some of her articles. Throughout this essay, I will be focusing on three articles from Nancy 's journal: Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers (1980) with Laura Saltz as cowriter, Between the Drafts (1992), and the Novice as Expert (2004). Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers (1980) juxtaposes through a case study the revision strategies of first-year college students and experienced writers. Between the Drafts (1992) narrates her personal experience with revision strategies. The Novice as Expert: Writing the freshmen (2004) examines how first-year college students—Sommers believes— should approach writing. As Sommers analyzes
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In her 1980 article, Sommers realized through her case study, that “students understand the revision process as a rewording activity” (p. 381). Which means that when first-year college students revise, they simply change words around and try to get the ideas accurate on the text because they have not developed the ability to review their work, and redo it if necessary (p. 382). Instead, she argues that students should see revision “as an activity in which they modify and develop perspectives and ideas” (p. 382). She argues this because students should develop their arguments on their writing pieces during revision to prove their thesis statement better, rather than simply reword their paragraphs to make their writing pieces sound better. Sommers believes in her 1980 article that first-year college students should develop the ability to see revision as a process to approach revision
In her 1980 article, Sommers realized through her case study, that “students understand the revision process as a rewording activity” (p. 381). Which means that when first-year college students revise, they simply change words around and try to get the ideas accurate on the text because they have not developed the ability to review their work, and redo it if necessary (p. 382). Instead, she argues that students should see revision “as an activity in which they modify and develop perspectives and ideas” (p. 382). She argues this because students should develop their arguments on their writing pieces during revision to prove their thesis statement better, rather than simply reword their paragraphs to make their writing pieces sound better. Sommers believes in her 1980 article that first-year college students should develop the ability to see revision as a process to approach revision