Moran Lit and Comp

LotF Interpretive Brief

Revision

When you have a draft and you are ready to revise, it means that you are more or less pleased with the
content of your essay—the evidence and analysis that shape your argument. But there are other
components of a strong essay: there is organization, adherence to conventions, and style. So today you are
going to focus on improving these three areas of your essay.

Organization
Check out the bullet points on the rubric.
→Begin in a dynamic fashion that captures the reader: Try out a handful of different first sentences,
searching for one that is especially “hooky” and relevant to the argument that will follow. Use punchy
action verbs.
→Establish a clear, concise, and compelling preview. We’ve talked about this during our work on your
thesis statements. Somewhere in your intro, you should definitely indicate the course your argument will
take.
→Develop a logical and coherent structure that flows smoothly. A lot of this has to do with your topic
sentences and their relevance to your thesis statement, and whether or not your ideas in your main
paragraphs build on each other. A lot of it has to do with transitional expressions as well.
→Provide a strong reflective sense of closure. You do not necessarily need an entire concluding paragraph,
but you might want one. You definitely want the end of the essay to feel to the reader like the end of the
essay. You want to lead the reader to reflect on what he or she has read and the inescapable truth of the
argument that you have presented.

Conventions
→Use appropriate grammar.
Concentrate on eliminating run-sentences and sentence fragments. A sentence needs an
independent clause. An independent clause has a subject and a main verb and expresses a
complete thought. If a sentence has more than one independent clause, they need to be connected
with a comma and conjunction, or a semicolon. If a sentence does not contain a complete thought
(“Because Jack is a savage crazy person.”), it is a sentence fragment.
Concentrate on putting your modifiers (prep phrases, participles, adjectives, adverbs) in the right
places, so that they clearly modify what you want them to modify.
Concentrate on using pronouns that are clear and unambiguous, and that agree with the nouns that
they refer to.
→Use the correct verb tenses, the present tense, when discussing imaginative literature.
→Integrate quotations correctly. Provide context for your quotations instead of just dropping them in. If
you introduce your quotation with a complete thought, use a colon. If you do not introduce it with a
complete thought, use a comma.
→Use the correct citation format. We cite parenthetically, by page number. The end of your quotation
should look like this: “…conch” (127). Or like this: “…conch!” (127).

Style
→Avoid the passive voice. A passive voice construction is when the subject does not perform the action of
the verb, but has it performed upon him.
Jimmy was given the bat for his birthday by his dad. (P)
Jimmy’s dad gave him the bat for his birthday. (A)
The theme of the struggle for power is explored by the novel. (P)
The novel explores the theme of the struggle for power. (A)
You should go sentence by sentence, looking for these passive voice constructions, and eliminating them.