10-second review: Analyzed how students revised when using the word processor.
Title: “Drafting and Revision Using Word Processing by Undergraduate Student Writers: Changing Conceptions and Practices.” AM Dave and DR Russell. Research in the Teaching of English (May 2010), 406-434.
Quote: “However, the analysis suggests that the common classroom practice of assigning multiple drafts to encourage global revision needs to be rethought, as more drafts are not necessarily associated with global revision. The survey also suggests that printing out to revise may be in the decline. Finally, the analysis suggests the very concept of a draft is becoming more fluid under the influence of word processing.”
Comment: When I know what I am going to say, I usually write with the word processor—memos, etc. When I do not know what I am going to say, I usually begin by writing with a pencil on a yellow pad as I am doing now.
As for revising using a word processor, I find that I revise/edit as I write. For me, the concept of multiple, discrete drafts is an anachronism. Still, when I think I have completed my task, I print it out and read it as a whole, making changes by hand on the paper. I suppose I could consider that copy as a draft. I find it difficult to go over the entire piece on the screen. As one wit said, people found out long ago that reading pages is better than reading a scroll, which is the same thing as reading the screen from beginning to end of a piece. RayS.
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