‘One day when I was twenty-three or twenty-four this sentence
seemed to form in my head, without my willing it, much as sentences form when
we are half-asleep, ‘Hammer your thoughts into unity’. For days I
could think of nothing else and for years I tested all I did by that sentence
[...]” William Butler Yeats (cited in Frank Tuohy, Yeats 1976, p.51 )
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Paris Review: How much rewriting do you do?
Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending to A Farewell To Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied.
Paris Review: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that stumped you?
Hemingway: Getting the words right
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PROJECT
RESPONSES
Because
THE SECRET OF WRITING IS REWRITING
respond
to projects of others by the third day.
Responses that consist solely
of generic phrases, such as "Good Job," that do not reveal detailed knowledge of
the project, will not be acceptable. You must respond in sufficient
detail to reveal that you have read the project closely. Let the
author of the essay know how it affected you as a reader, where you were pleased,
where you got confused, where irritated, etc. In general, evaluate the other
students' essays as works of art. If each essay were, say, a statue, which
little as well as big flaws should be corrected?
Respond to at least half the class. 2 points
for each response IF for each person you suggest [1] how to expand or cut the
essay and [2] how to revise one of the sentences.
You must quote a whole sentence of the
student's essay that has not been quoted by a previous respondent and specify
where the sentence needs improvement and then rewrite the sentence to improve
it. For the subject line of your reply, paste in the sentence you are going
to rewrite so that it will be easier for others to see what sentences are left
for revision.
To get credit for your work, print out your
responses to others by cutting and pasting them into a Word document, not by
printing out each page individually from the screen.
Grading: Remember that responding properly to
the correct number of projects before the deadline is not just part of your
class participation grade but also, and more importantly, your portfolio grade
(14% of your final grade). For your portfolio you will print out all of your
responses to other students and their quality will be fairly obvious in that
format. Especially valuable are responses that suggest how and where to add
right-brain input: feelings, sensory details, pictures, etc.
Reading assignment for project
responses: Bazerman 4-6, 8-9,
12-14
