The Craft of Revision

Murray, Donald M.

3.93

128 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 0155016369 ISBN 13: 9780155016361

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 1980

Designed to function as a primary text or supplement for freshman English and basic composition courses, this brief, completely revised text introduces a new process - focus, collect, shape, order, develop, voice, edit. It builds effective writing from the standpoint of increasing the strengths rather than eliminating error. Murray, pioneer of the process approach used in Write to Learn, Read to Write, and The Craft of Revision, First Edition, breaks the revision process down in a new manner that makes it more accessible to a broad range of students. Features: * Includes professional and student case histories that reveal the process of revision in action. * Shows students how to read, diagnose problems, and design solutions for work in progress. * Suggestions for writing activities are woven into the text and follow each major section. New to this edition: * Presents new material to help students find writing subjects and strategies to develop drafts worthy of revision (Chapter 1). * Offers many reading techniques and shows how one professional writer reads his work in progress (Chapter 2). * Provides new section in each key chapter on diagnosing and solving common writing problems. * Places new emphasis on academic writing that helps students learn to write effectively in their college courses. * Illustrates six case histories of students revising with earlier and later drafts that can be used for student examination and class discussion (also includes two professional case histories).

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Review:

1. REWRITE BEFORE WRITING. Why Do We Resist Rewriting? An Invitation: Write with Me. How Do You Find Something to Write About. Be Specific. End-of-Chapter Interviews. Interview with a Published Writer--Elizabeth Cooke. 2. HOW TO GET THE WRITING DONE: TRICKS OF THE WRITER'S TRADE. Nulla Dies Sine Linea. Establish Achievable Deadlines. Break a Writing Assignment into Small Daily Tasks. Know Tomorrow's Task Today. Keep a Daybook. Rehearse. A Writer's Place. 3. READING FOR REVISION. Test Readers. Where Do We Find Test Readers? What Test Readers Do. The Danger of Test Readers. Setting the Reader's Agenda. Reading Writing in Process. Techniques of Responding. Methods of Reader Response. 4. REWRITE WITH FOCUS. Elements of Focus. Clarity. Premature Focusing. How to Focus. How Do I Make an Instructor's Idea My Own? How Do I Make the Boss's Idea My Own? Focus Repair. Diagnosis: No Focus. Say One Thing. Frame Your Meaning. Set the Distance. Interview with a Published Writer--Christopher Scanlan. 5. REWRITE WITH GENRE. Choosing the Genre. Genre Provides Meaning. Diagnosis: Ineffective Genre. Genre Communicates Meaning. Discovering the Genre for the Draft. The Essential Narrative. Design Your Own Genre. Case History of a Student Writer--Maureen Healy. 6. REWRITE WITH STRUCTURE. Diagnosis: Disorder. Answer the Reader's Questions. Outline After Writing. Interview with a Student Writer--Kathryn S. Evans. 7. REWRITE WITH DOCUMENTATION. Diagnosis: Too Little Information. The Importance of Information. The Qualities of Effective Information. The Basic Forms of Information. Where Do You Find Information? Writing with Information. Interview with a Student Writer--Jennifer Bradley-Swift. 8. REWRITE TO DEVELOP. Diagnosis: Superficial. Techniques of Development. Rewriting Starts with Rereading. Read Fragments. Read What Isn't Written. Rewrite within the Draft. Emphasize the Significant. Pace and Proportion. Length. 9. REWRITE BY EAR. What Is Voice? Hearing Your Own Writing. Diagnosis: No Voice. Hearing the Writer's Voice. Hearing Your Own Voice. Case History of a Professional Writer--Donald M. Murray. 10. REWRITE WITH CLARITY. Twenty Ways to Unfinal a Draft. The Attitude of the Editing Writer. Interview Your Draft. Solutions to Common Editing. The Craft of Editing. A Student Case History--Roger LePage, Jr. 11. THE CRAFT OF LETTING GO. Why Writers Don't Let Go. How to Let Go. When You Let Go.

About the Author:

Donald M. Murray was a Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire where he inaugurated a journalism program, helped establish a graduate program in Composition Studies, and served as director of Freshman English and English Department chairperson. He twice won awards for his teaching and was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by the University of New Hampshire in 1990, Fitchburg State College in 1992, and New Hampshire College in 1997. As a journalist, Murray won a number of awards including the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in the _Boston Herald_ in 1954. He was an editor of _Time_ and has served as writing coach for several newspapers, including the _Boston Globe_ and the _Providence Journal_. In 1991 Boston magazine and in 1996 _Improper Bostonian_ magazine selected him best columnist in Boston. In 1997 the University of New Hampshire opened the Donald M. Murray Journalism Library. He received recognition for Lifetime Achievement during the New Hampshire Literary Awards in 2001. In 2003 _Writing on the Edge_ established the Donald M. Murray Prize. This award is given to the author of the best work of creative nonfiction on the subject of writing published the previous year.

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