Summary
This article is all about the art of revision- the many ways inwhich writers do it, and the concept that perhaps there is not a "right or wrong" way of going about it.
Questions For Discussion #1-5
1. Because just like the Murray/Berkenkotter article stated: sometimes asking people to explain their actions and the process inwhich they do something is very different from actually watching them go about the task because you'll probably pick up on actions of theirs that they might not realize they do.
2. Focusing on metaphors may cause the mind to diverge. If the reader interprets the metaphor just like the writer intended-- all is well. But is that ever guarenteed? It is a risk writers take because there is no guarentee that the reader is going to understand and benefit from the metaphor. It may even distract them to the point where they struggle to comprehend the paper because they are still trying to piece together the metaphor. We can get around this problem by writing what we mean and meaning what we write.
3. I could relate to the "sculpting" metaphor because I often put analogies into papers to help the reader to relate to my topic and understand my points in a new light. I would be somewhat skeptical to use the "sewing/tailoring" stratagy because of the large insert of text. I would be afraid that it would diverge from my topic, or not be relatable.
4. I had a hard time understanding the diffferenences between all of the different kinds of metaphors she gave. But I understood them a little better because of the examples she listed for each of the different kinds of metaphors.
5. I think the metaphors have very little effect on the way I revise. I think everyone does it differently, and there's no exact way to put a label on what you are doing per sae when you are editing/revising. To me, it isn't a process I can explain because I can't exactly narrate my actions while I am fixing up a paper. It's almost subconscious.
My Own Thoughts
This was a pretty hard reading to get through...I had a hard time connecting the metaphors to the revision process. Maybe my brain isn't creative enough to pair a metaphor with revising...but I tried. I think it is a relevant article for us because we are in the final revision process for our 1st papers. (fixing the mistakes/suggestions that our peer edit partner suggested.)
This article wan't too difficult for me to read but I agree with you, I have never really thought of how I edit and revise my work in that kind of way before. When I edit, I don't really think about it much, it kind of just happens subconsciously like you said.
ReplyDelete