After reading this section in Ballenger’s book, I realized how much work was ahead of me in revising my drafts. Before reading this, I assumed that no further research was necessary in my revision and not a whole lot of moving stuff around. However, my draft still has a long ways to go. More research needs to be done, sentences need to be removed, paragraphs need to be revised, and the paper as a whole needs to be more focused all around.
I thought that Ballenger’s simile comparing a research paper to a relationship with another person to be clever. That’s exactly how I felt before reading this section, that my essay is good as it is and that nothing needs to be changed in it. Exercise 5.1 looked like it could be really helpful for initially realizing what needs to be changed in my paper. I have a feeling that much of my writing are just facts and other people’s ideas, and little of it is analysis and my own ideas.
Another exercise that will probably aid me in my revision process is the cut in paste. Many of my paragraphs will probably go under the “irrelevant” section and will need to be changed drastically. Also, the overall direction of my paper will probably need to be realigned to better point in the direction of my thesis statement. His sample questions pertaining to what pile my different paragraphs should be placed in will most likely also be helpful in the process.
Lastly, the website Ballenger gave out will probably help in finding some of the statistics I still need to include. Overall, this was a very efficient reading that will hopefully make my revision process a little easier.