Much of the effort involved in academic writing comes from reviewing and revising our work....?

Question

What is the value of reviewing written work from the overview or big picture level before beginning to edit at the grammar or punctuation level?

Answer 1

Getting an overview or big picture of a paper BEFORE starting to grade it is similar to scouting out the terrain before leading a field trip....you need to get a sense of the paper before reading it for the details when grading. This can also help you to give the student better feedback during the grading process.

If you were to enter a new store, and not know where things are located, you might spend more time wandering about trying to find what things on your shopping list. Most teachers have an idea of the details such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. But if you consider the myriad approaches to writing when it is applied to a work of creative fiction vs. a scientific topic, there should be differences in paragraph types, structure, and organization just due to the nature of the topics. I find it difficult to imagine using methods of common to fiction being used in a scientific paper. Even within a group of papers for a similar topic (e.g. scientific papers), there is an array of approaches that can be taken.

When grading papers for a particular class assignment, it is also helpful to get an idea or feel for the range of student performance before grading the details in the papers. We all have an idea of the goals for an assignment we give, and have expectations of the outcomes. Getting a preview by quickly reading through all the papers before actually grading them gives you a feel as to how many students took a more conventional approach to interpreting the assignment as to those who took a more original one, and possibly some who may have totally missed the point. It is a kind of reality check that can help us avoid letting our personal biases and expectations creep into the grading process. This can also give insights to review lessons to reinforce the original lessons.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Answer 2

You're confusing popularity with quality. Vanilla Ice sold 11 million copies of the album that contained "Ice, Ice Baby." Jersey Shore routinely gets 5-7 viewers per episode. Milli Vanilli won a Grammy for best new artist before people figured out they were lipsyncing, There are those among us who simply do not think Twilight and Harry Potter are brilliant stories, regardless of the technical writing. And you'll notice one key thing: since JK Rowling and Stephanie Meyer don't focus on an ability to write well, neither woman has been able to extend a career beyond that one story. Actual writers keep writing. BQ: I've been published both through articles and a novel, so I wouldn't say I'm a beginner. That doesn't mean I'm an expert, though. I would put my skills somewhere in the middle. ETA: "However, there is a reason these series are popular. " With all due respect, they are popular for the same reason Laffy Taffy is popular. They are decadent, easy to ingest, and come with a sugar high, so teenagers can't get enough. But just like Milli Vanilli, in another decade a new wave of kids will ask "who the heck is Snookie?" If that's what it takes to sell a million books, I'd rather not bother. Meanwhile, old TV shows like Friends continue to run in syndication long after they stopped production, because they had a mix of both great stories *and* technical quality. 2: My weakest point is scene transition.

Answer 3

A paper with grammar or punctuation errors can still be read, but if even if it is written in perfect form, a paper which doesn't make sense is still impossible to read.