Revisions in CRTW201

"The worst ever was 13 different versions of one chapter (Chapter 9 in The Goblet of Fire).
I hated that chapter so much; at one point, I thought of tossing it out altogether
and just putting in a page saying ...'Chapter 9 was too difficult' and going straight to Chapter 10."
---- J.K. Rowling
 

Revision is an important element of CRTW201, because it allows you to build on your growing awareness of critical thinking and writing to demonstrate that your skills have improved. Therefore, if you get a grade of C or below (below 75) on either paper 1 or paper 2 (analysis of impediments, application of standards to scholarly article), you are required to revise them. If your grade is higher than C the option to revise is yours; you are not required to revise and frankly, it generally doesn't have very much statistical impact on your final grade.

If you do not submit a revision of the essay, you are conceding that you choose to accept your first grade on the paper. There may be a possibility to revise paper 3 (the Cultural Events paper) or the research paper, but that will have to be negotiated on an individual basis, and my decision in those cases will be final. If you do not attend your mandatory rough draft conference for the research paper, you will not be eligible for a chance to revise the final paper. 

If you do submit a revision by the assigned date, I will average the two grades together. (In the extremely rare instance that your revision grade is lower than the original grade, I will not average it in.)

Revisions should be sent to me as an e-mail attachment in Word format. It is your responsibility to send me the correct file; if you send the wrong one, I will grade that.
 

To revise means to re-see—in other words, to start the paper fresh. It doesn’t just mean “go line by line and fix the grammar errors,” though of course that should happen. It means “attack the paper again, re-examine your pitch, change the focus, move things around, really show that you have re-thought it and tried to make it a better demonstration of critical thinking in meeting the assignment." If you only make cosmetic changes to the first paper—a word here, a sentence there—that’s not a revision and you won’t get a revision grade. You need to really dig back into the paper and show the changes.

As you work on your revisions, I encourage you to drop by the office and discuss them with me. I’ll be glad to review the changes you’re trying to make and to help you apply your newly-learned skills. The Writing Center is also a great resource for writers who choose to improve their skills. 

Assigned dates for revisions: 

Paper 1 (analysis of impediments): must be turned in by  Wednesday March 7.

Paper 2 (application of standards to scholarly article) must be turned in by Monday March 26. 

No extensions are possible for these deadlines.