To me, revision means making something better. It means taking something, looking at it closely, and thoroughly considering how to make it better. It must be done with the intention of not only finding flaws or possible shortcomings but rather with the mentality that those only mar the surface of the thing and thus must be revised. Revision is necessary to create something effective.
I think that revision must be completed by someone other than the original creator. There are always certain biases that one has: that a sentence must contain that particular word, that the cadence of that sentence would be altered if something added or removed something from it. The original creator is usually impervious to finding its work’s own flaws. Because of this, revision must be done by someone objective; by objective, I mean, of course, that the person did not create the original work.
I believe that revision is a necessary process, most especially when writing. While I don’t follow the usual “rough draft” practices, I am not opposed to someone else going through my paper and giving me feedback. Revision is something heavily emphasized in the classroom, especially since it adds a social aspect to learning that is so important to adolescents.
I agree that having someone else review a paper is helpful in finding issues, but ultimately I feel that the final decision should be in the hands of the original writer. I think that you do make a good point about revision being necessary in making a paper effective.
Comment by Mia — April 1, 2009 @ 10:01 am