Writing Topic: Rules for Writers Chapter 3

      Chapter 3 In "Rules for Writers" by Diana Hacker takes us into the details of revising and cosmetically editing our essays. When I say "Cosmetically" I mean the details of spelling, proper grammar, and sentence structure. The nuts and bolts of your essay are there, now you need to step back to the curb and see how it looks through the eyes of the buyer (I watched too many real estate shows).
      Diana starts with clarifying global revisions. There is a detailed checklist of global revisions that includes purpose and audience, focus, organization and paragraphing, content and point of view. Proofreading for mispellings and grammar errors is very important. When I read something that has mispellings and grammar issues it makes it difficult to stay focused on the writer's message, like when your talking with someone and there is a booger hanging out of their nose. Proofreading and making the necessary changes can make a huge difference to the audience. It makes the difference between a rough draft and your final essay.
      Section 3b challenges us to make our paragraphs and sentences more streamlined, and crisper. The importance of peer review is discussed here as well. In this case the reviewers are only asked to specifically review the writers global changes. The writer then took some reviewers suggestions and proceeded with clarifying some aspects of his essay as well as focusing on different areas that need more support. This is awesome. We use this in our class and it really helps.Its like you have a team of writers working on one paper. I always thought I needed to perform my work independently to bring out my own flavors but when you have a lot of critics you can get some oppurtunities to amplify your flavors you might not have thought of before.
     Proofreading, revising and peer reviews are the three hot topics I connect with in this chapter. I have and will continue to use all of the weapons to conquer my future essays. The peer reviews are the most fun with people you don't really know because you really get an araound the world set of viewpoints.