{"id":57222,"date":"2021-05-10T15:11:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T19:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=57222"},"modified":"2021-05-10T15:12:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T19:12:28","slug":"revising-nine-steps-for-making-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/revising-nine-steps-for-making-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Revising \u2013 nine steps for making meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 1973\u00a0the late Donald Murray<\/a>\u00a0published an\u00a0essay in The Writer\u00a0<\/a>in which he argues that writing begins when the first draft is completed. From then on, he says, the writer revises, reads and changes their words, closing in on the meaning they are trying to make. Revision isnt a virtuous act, Murray states, it is simply an integral part of the writer\u2019s practice. No more, no less. You write, you revise.<\/p>\n

The writer \u2013 or\u00a0the maker<\/em>\u00a0as Murray calls them \u2013 has to learn to read their own work critically, but not so critically that it paralyses them. They must be able to read in order to cut away the meaning-less and get nearer to what they want to say.<\/p>\n

Revising for meaning cannot simply depend, Murray asserts, on the feedback of others. Other people do not necessarily know what the writer is trying to say. Readers\u2019 comments may point the writer in a direction that they don\u2019t want to take. The writer may even be unaware of the going-off-course effect because they are not yet sure themselves where their writing is going. Writers need to be their own best critical readers. Murray suggests an order of critical reading for meaning-making revision work. While his advice on ordered reading is directed towards fiction and non-fiction writers, it is also salient for academic writing.<\/p>\n

When I first read Murray\u2019s essay, a long time ago now, I was pleasantly surprised to see his reading order laid out, as it is pretty well what I do in my own revision. It is also the order I use for reading multiple drafts of doctoral chapters and theses (although I am now thinking about Murray\u2019s comments about writers not relying too heavily on the feedback of others.)<\/p>\n

In case you dont know Murray\u2019s work, I\u2019ve adapted his critical reading order list here. I not only like his list, but I also like that he says that makers don\u2019t always do these steps in a neat linear fashion. Experienced writers combine some of these steps.<\/p>\n

The idea of this Murray revision strategy is to use these nine steps as questions to guide your reading of your own draft text.<\/p>\n

1. Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does the text contain enough information? Murray argues that all readers need to find accurate and interesting information in a text. Academic readers probably expect more information and more of information than other readers, they want to find analysis. They also want references to other literatures and to data sets to ensure that they can trust the information provided. If there isn\u2019t enough \u2018stuff\u2019, an academic text will have no foundation and can easily be blown over, just like the three little pigs\u2019 house of straw.<\/p>\n

2. Meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing must convey something of significance. Each piece of information in a text provided leads the reader towards a meaning worth making, Murray says. Academic readers expect a novel and worthwhile contribution from their reading. So writers need to ask whether their text has a real point to make.<\/p>\n

3. Audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Successful texts connect with their readers. Academic texts are no exception to this \u201crule\u201d. Does the text have a sense of the likely academic reader? Are there sufficient signs and signposts which will help the reader to connect with the text and to follow its meaning making moves?<\/p>\n

4. Form\/genre<\/strong><\/p>\n

While academic writing genres are often predetermined, it is always worth querying, for example, whether you have chosen the right one. Is the text in a form suited to both the audience and your purpose? Is what you are trying to make a blog post really a paper, and vice versa?<\/p>\n

5. Structure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Academic writing is most often an argument. Ask then, is the reader taken logically through the text to the end point? Is each move in the argument backed by the appropriate amount and kind of information? Are all of the moves in the right order? In the order that readers expect and that is part of the genre? Perhaps this is the time in the revising process, Murray suggests, where the writer needs to construct an outline (sometimes called a reverse outline) in order to reveal and check the \u201chidden spine\u201d of the text, the logic of its construction.<\/p>\n

6. Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each section of the text now needs separate attention. Does each section have enough of the right information for the reader to be able to follow the moves of the argument? Does the reader have enough guidance to understand what this particular section does, and its place in the overall text? What needs more work?<\/p>\n

7. Dimension<\/strong><\/p>\n

While working on developing each section, the writer also needs to keep an eye on the whole.\u00a0\u00a0One section must not get so developed that it grows more substantive in length or information than is warranted by its contribution to the whole. Is the text balanced?<\/p>\n

8. Voice<\/strong><\/p>\n

The writer works on making sure that the text is written with authority, that their critical, evaluative, individual stamp is marked on the text.\u00a0Does the text feel and sound like it\u2019s you as the writer?<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Craft<\/strong><\/p>\n

The writer\/maker now, Murray suggests, moves closer and closer to the text. \u201cEach sentence, each line, each clause, each phrase, each word, each mark of punctuation, each section of white space between the type has to contribute to the clarification of meaning<\/em>\u201d, he says. Every change has to be checked, he suggests, to ensure that it adds to the meaning \u2013 not detract or obscure. Murray sees this as an enjoyable stage of revising \u2013 new meanings appear unexpectedly, as writers \u201crub words against each other<\/em>\u201d and as the potential multiple meanings of individual words come into play.<\/p>\n

I like Murray\u2019s emphasis on the importance of crafting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe maker\u2019s eye moves back and forth from word to phrase to sentence to paragraph to sentence to phrase to word. The maker\u2019s eye sees the need for variety and balance, for a firmer structure, for a more appropriate form. It peers into the interior of the paragraph, looking for coherence, unity, and emphasis, which make meaning clear.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I am not sure I always do enough to point the PhDers I work with towards the pleasures of word-crafting. I am sure that I stress the necessity of revising and the inevitability of multiple versions of a text. Perhaps making the notion of\u00a0making<\/em>\u00a0as explicit as Murray does might help to indicate the enjoyable aspects of revision. But regardless of whether I \u2013 or we \u2013\u00a0\u00a0can reach enjoyment in revising,\u00a0I reckon that Murray\u2019s order of reading steps are still very helpful for both doctoral writers and their supervisors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1973\u00a0the late Donald Murray\u00a0published an\u00a0essay in The Writer\u00a0in which he argues that writing begins when the first draft is completed. From then on, he says, the writer revises, reads and changes their words, closing in on the meaning they are trying to make. Revision isnt a virtuous act, Murray states, it is simply an […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":57223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[224471],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-57222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-revising"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRevising \u2013 nine steps for making meaning - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/revising-nine-steps-for-making-meaning\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Revising \u2013 nine steps for making meaning - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1973\u00a0the late Donald Murray\u00a0published an\u00a0essay in The Writer\u00a0in which he argues that writing begins when the first draft is completed. From then on, he says, the writer revises, reads and changes their words, closing in on the meaning they are trying to make. 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