In every form, style, genre, and medium, no matter what your skill level, revision*is essential to good writing. It's the difference between showing talent and getting the job done. By revising your w

In every form, style, genre, and medium, no matter what your skill level, revision*is essential to good writing. It's the difference between showing talent and getting the job done. By revising your work, you transform it from a record of your own understanding to writing that connects with readers and is able to shape their understanding.

Last week was an "incubation period" in which you took a step back from drafting your essay to focus on building other skills. Now it's time to return to the writing process with a fresh perspective. As you revisit your essay, think about how you might incorporate new ideas that have formed in the past week to your current Writing Plan. Have you changed your perspective on your selected reading at all? Have you thought of new ways to approach the writing process?

Writers often think that if they didn't see a problem the first time, they won't see it the second time either. But this isn't the case with many problems you can identify and fix in the first few stages of revision. Revision allows you to come back to your paper with fresh eyes and read it as a reader rather than as the writer who already knows what he or she is saying. If there is a gap in evidence or paragraphs inserted where they don't logically flow, you're most likely to notice these problems after you've set your paper aside for a while. If you're lacking topic sentences* for your paragraphs, you are going to have just as difficult a time figuring out what you were saying as your reader would. So come back to your paper "as a reader" and see what you can find during these revision stages.

As you prepare to submit Assignment 2, Milestone 1: First Draft, you'll want to re-read your selected reading and take additional notes. You will also want to review the material from Module 4 and start pulling specific lines, passages, and ideas from the text to help support the notes you took in the Writing Plan Draft.

Finally, it is important to carefully read over any instructor feedback that you have received for the Writing Plan Draft and to email your instructor with any remaining questions. Remember that the Writing Center is also available if you need additional help with your assignments in this course. To contact them, click here.

As you work on your Writing Plan, remember to refer to the assignment guidelines and rubric (click here) to make sure you're fulfilling each aspect of the assignment. You can also download/print the rubric.

Submitting Your Finalized Writing Plan

Incorporate any revisions, new insights, or helpful feedback into your Writing Plan Draft. Then, submit your assignment to your instructor through your learning environment