Revisions You only need Your computer A pencil or pen A highlighter A thesaurus A dictionary

FINISH Using your synthesis essay Finish the essay

REVISIONS You’re going to be REVISING your paper. You need to complete everything in this PowerPoint. I’ll be checking today’s work.

REVISIONS We’ll revise TODAY. Then, you’ll make a final clean (neat and easy to read) copy of your paper. DUE AT THE END OF THE PERIOD

REVISIONS First, get out your rough draft. Make sure you have a highlighter that works. This is going to be a LOT of work. You’re going to read through your paper a ga-zillion times. READY?

REVISIONS Check your logic Have you accurately interpreted the prompt? Does one idea lead logically to the next? Do you have transitions? Are your assertions the focus? Does the evidence support YOUR IDEAS? Is it the best evidence? If you answer “no” to any of these, fix the content of your paper. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP OF THE PROCESS

Editing: COMMAS Read your entire paper. Look for every sentence where you have the word and or but. If there’s a sentence on both sides, you need a comma before the and or before the but. Put one with your highlighter. I went to the store, and I bought candy. Read your entire paper.

Editing: CAPITALIZATION Look for every word that should be capitalized - the beginning of sentences People’s names Streets Cities Capitalize them with your highlighter. We went to Dallas and ate dinner. Read your entire paper.

Editing: VERB TENSE Read your entire paper. Any book / text is treated as present tense, so all of your discussion about a source should be present tense. Personal examples probably happened in the past, so all of these verbs should be in past tense. Make your verb tense consistent and accurate. With a pen, underline each verb in each sentence. Is it past or present tense? If you’re not sure, ask me. Most verbs you just add “ed.” Some verbs are irregular, and you have to do something different. You can look them up in the dictionary to see. You can do this with a real dictionary or by going to dictionary.com. Change them with your pen. Read your entire paper.

Editing: SPELLING Read your entire paper. Many times you know a word doesn’t LOOK right, but you don’t know how to spell it. On a computer, you could just use spellcheck. On TAKS, you’re going to have to HUNT AROUND in the dictionary until you find the correct spelling. That’s ok, because you have a lot of time. Just be patient, and keep looking. On the AP test, you will not be allowed to use any outside sources—this is a great chance to learn how the word is spelled. With a pen, circle any word that looks like it is spelled wrong. Look it up in the dictionary. Look it up by sounding out the word. Put the correct spelling above the incorrect spelling. Read your entire paper.

Editing: SPELLING You must have circled at least FIVE words. If they were spelled correctly, put a check by them. If they were spelled incorrectly, put the correct spelling by them. Read your entire paper.

Thesaurus Read your entire paper. Draw a box around FIVE verbs in your paper. Look each of these words up in your thesaurus. With a pen, write a more descriptive word above the word you put a box around. Remember, you’re not looking for the biggest word. You’re looking for the word that best describes what you’re trying to say. Read your entire paper.

Thesaurus Read your entire paper. Draw a box around FIVE adjectives in your paper. Maybe you don’t even have five adjectives. You should have. Adjectives are just words that describe things. You could be describing people or things or places. Look each of these words up in your thesaurus. With a pen, write a more descriptive word above the word you put a box around. Remember, you’re not looking for the biggest word. You’re looking for the word that BEST describes what you’re trying to say. Read your entire paper.

REVISING & Editing is messy work. If you’ve done everything in this PowerPoint, your paper will be quite a mess. Get the lined paper from me for your final draft. When you think you are done, do something productive. You will need to go over it again for homework and rewrite a clean, revised version for our next class. Do not bring it to me.