Writing Is Not Writing Unless It’s Revising
Every theater production goes through weeks of rehearsal. Football teams practice formations and plays dozens of times before running them in games. Chefs create tasting menus, militaries run drills, surgeons do internships, and pilots fly simulations.
No one is expected to get it right — whatever “it” may be — on the first try.
All too often, though, high school students write one draft of an essay. They hit “save” then “print” (or “send”), and that’s that. Equally often, teachers receive essays, write comments, assign grades, and hand them back, and that’s that. The essays are never to be spoken of again. Or, worse, teachers rely entirely on spontaneous, in-class essays. (I blame the Advanced Placement system, in part, for this trend. AI is making it worse.)
I completely understand the constraints that students and teachers face. Even so, this is no way to write.
Ever since humans gave up clay tablets and papyrus, every serious writer who has ever put pen to paper or finger to keyboard will attest that real, earnest writing has almost nothing to do with first drafts — and everything to do with revisions.
Sure, a football team could get lucky and gain a first down on an untested play. But I’d need some pretty favorable odds to bet on that one. Likewise, astudent might arrive at the answer to a math problem nearly instantly or be able to code an alpha and test it in short order. Those results will get full credit whether they took five minutes or five hours.
Ideas, narratives, and analyses, though, almost always take time.
The Gift of Time
The general reluctance to revise, and the general reluctance for teachers to assign revision, prevents students from making the types of improvements — from life-changing epiphanies to minor rhetorical refinements — that can make serious writing educational, satisfying, and, indeed, special. Writing one draft and pretending that it’s done misses the point of formal writing.
First drafts are usually superficial. They might get include the essential elements from the teacher’s rubric (thesis statement, body paragraphs, evidence). But they are not exactly essays yet.
A first draft might report that Hester Prynne is persecuted by a narrow-minded society and include plenty of quotes about how unhappy she is. Sure, but what of it? The third draft might report that the perils of trying to survive in an unfamiliar landscape required a level of group cohesion that modern people cannot fathom.
Another first draft might declare the United States’ 1960s accumulation of nuclear weapons to be unquestionably immoral. The fourth draft might reveal a more nuanced understanding of the defensive benefits of mutually-assured destruction or the influence of the military-industrial complex.
Yet another first draft might declare Marcel Duchamp to be silly and talentless. A subsequent draft might consider his fame against the backdrop of conservative artistic strictures, the exclusionary attitudes of elites, and the far greater absurdity of the Great War.
This is how (academic) essays evolve — when writers give themselves enough time.
Some students, though, may feel that they are not capable of devising nuanced ideas and deep analysis. My guess is that many of those students have never actually tried. If they put in the work, they are likely to be pleasantly surprised with what they come up with. This is what makes serious writing educational, satisfying, and special.
Now, what does that work entail?
Revision is not a proofread. A student who writes a paper in the evening and reviews it for typos the next morning is not revising. Nor is adding one paragraph or quotation after a good idea strikes. Real revision entails writing, setting aside (for at least a day per draft), reading afresh, and being willing — eager, even — to make major changes. (Sometimes, it means trashing a draft entirely.)
Many students write first drafts without really knowing what their papers are about. Changes could entail reinterpretation of quotations, reorganization of paragraphs, insertion of key explanations and bits of analysis. Changes can be rhetorical, achieving clarity and forcefulness where previously there was muck and hesitancy. Those changes could be as fundamental as a new thesis.
Obviously, students cannot revise essays indefinitely. Many professional writers would revise forever, declaring all previous drafts to be garbage and all subsequent drafts to be marginally stronger, if editors did not impose deadlines. But, even one serious revision can mean the difference between a touchdown and a sack. A second look at an idea could turn out to be exponentially stronger than the first.
Perhaps the most exquisite moment in the creation of a piece of writing is the moment when a new idea strikes unexpectedly. It might be in conversation with a friend. It might slap you in the back of the head and cause you to spill your morning coffee. Quite often, it keeps you awake for just a moment longer before you fall asleep.
Students who draft essays the night before they’re due miss opportunities for these epiphanies.
(In-class essays have their place, but they serve different purposes. Quick thinking and instant recall of ideas and facts are, arguably, valuable faculties. But too often students and teachers treat take-home essays as if they’re just typed versions of in-class essays.)
Revising College Essays
So far, I’ve presented this advice in the context of high school classes. It goes double for college application essays.
College applications don’t receive grades. They receive a yes or a no. At many colleges, the yes is exceedingly, and increasingly, hard to come by. So, while strong essays do not assure admission, they certainly help. With rare exceptions, unrevised essays will not help.
Students who want to prepare for college essays must learn to revise. To practice, they should revise take-home essays as thoroughly as possible. If students don’t have take-home essays, they at the very least should mentally prepare themselves to approach their college essays differently than they approach school essays.
They should prepare to read their own writing, critique themselves, and, most importantly, welcome the new ideas, more eloquent phrasing, and more honest stories that will result. They might not show up on the second draft or even the fifth. But with enough work and enough optimism, good writing can emerge.
Of course, the best essays often rely on great topics. Students who are excited about their topics should be excited about their first drafts. A great topic does not (usually) write itself, though. Students should be excited to revise them, maintaining the energy, developing the essay’s “voice” and making drafts clearer and smarter.
Does all of this sound difficult? It should. Like all other worthwhile endeavors, good writing requires work. Here are some exercises to make the process of revising a little easier, or at least more effective:
Read drafts out loud to identify awkward phrasing and discontinuities and, more generally, to see how you feel about ascribing your voice to your ideas.
Close your laptop and take a walk.
Break up long paragraphs, to get a stronger sense of how your arguments are progressing.
Discuss your ideas with a teacher or friend.
Recognize, and take pause, when a new idea emerges. Develop that idea.
Isolate the topic sentences of each body paragraph. See if they make sense and evaluate how they relate to each other.
Ask yourself which ideas, observations, and interpretations you’re most excited about. Expand them.
Put your essay aside for at least two days. Then re-read it with fresh eyes.
A college essay is a chance for a student to present his or her best self. “Best” doesn’t advertise itself immediately (nor is “best” always positive — struggles and mistakes may be compelling too). Just as accomplished students spent many hours on coursework, science fair projects, summer internships, theater rehearsal, athletic skills, volunteer work, and all the rest, so must they spend many hours writing essays that describe and consider those accomplishments as richly as possible.
About Josh: Veteran educator Josh Stephens has advised students on college applications for over a decade. His students regularly gain admission to the most selective colleges in the United States. Admissions in the 2020 application season include, for different students, Caltech, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, all campuses of the University of California, and Harvard, Princeton, Yale all five other colleges of the Ivy League.
To inquire about application essay guidance, please email josh@joshrstephens.net.
For more insight into college application essays, please enjoy the following blogs.
College Essays and the Misuse of ‘Voice’
How College Applicants Can Go Beyond ‘Show Don’t Tell’
