Essay Revision: Emphasizing Process Over Product

Convincing students of the value of crafting essays can be a daunting task at the best of times. With services such as ChatGPT that offer easy alternatives to the painstaking work of drafting and revision, many instructors are concerned that students may be more tempted than ever to forego the time commitment of writing and the anxiety that accompanies putting their thoughts into words for others to critique. One prominent response has been to focus on how to police students in order to prevent plagiarism. However, as Beth McMurtrie has recently argued, by shifting the conversation away from detecting cheating and toward helping students understand why they write essays, instructors can not only cut down on plagiarism but also (and more importantly) help students understand how writing essays can be valuable to them long-term. 

But how do we as instructors convince students that essays are not a box to check (or a dragon to be slayed)? That the act of writing itself is a practice in thinking critically and an important tool for honing communication skills?  

The first step is to recognize that there is not just one reason why students may have negative feelings toward the writing process. Among many possible reasons for disliking writing assignments, students may: 

1. Not understand the need for process.  
2. Focus on the grade (and often on one that they feel is arbitrarily given).
3. See the finished product as a once and done task that holds no relevance to lifelong learning or their future career goals. 

There are several techniques instructors can use to combat the negative, and often misguided, feelings students have towards the writing process: 

Emphasize the need for process in your course learning objectives and assignment sheets.

Explaining the drafting, peer review, and revision process to your students early and often is an important step in helping students understand the benefits of revision. One useful technique is to build revision into your course by creating scaffolded assignments that break writing essays into manageable chunks that are developed and revised several times. By breaking the writing process into multiple steps, instructors can make the essay writing process seem less daunting and provide students with opportunities to develop their writing skills. For instance, hosting a thesis workshop before a peer review day gives students several chances to revise their work in a low stakes context.  

Take the focus off the grade.

Another benefit to incorporating the revision process directly into assignments is that it lessens some of the anxiety students feel regarding their grades. By receiving feedback at each stage of the writing process (whether directly from the instructor or from their peers), students feel more empowered to take risks, try out new ideas, and are more willing to make and learn from mistakes that are critical to long-term learning and success. Offering low stake opportunities for students to recognize writing errors encourages them to focus on their own development and less on a letter grade.  

Make essays about long-term learning.

Just as important, providing feedback to students at multiple stages creates a dialogue between students and instructors, what Kara Whittman has called “Literacy Narratives,” in which students are encouraged to regard their writing as an ongoing and developing conversation. Rather than throwing together a paper they never look at again, asking students to respond to feedback (whether as a discussion or in the form of essay revisions) allows them to see writing as a tool for developing their ideas, questioning their initial assumptions, and growing both as writers and thinkers.  

Make the learning process transparent.

At the heart of all of this is an underlying problem: we need to communicate more clearly to our students why they are asked to perform certain tasks. By implementing techniques such as TiLT (Tranparency in Learning and Teaching), we can establish a clear, shared goal for students. And once students know why they are performing a task and how it will serve them in the future, they are far better equipped to succeed in the classroom and much more likely to put forth their best effort.  

Interested in learning more emphasizing the writing process? Consider attending a CITL workshop or contact our office for an individual consultation. You can also check out this CITL blog post on TiLT.