SEE Revision Strategy assignment Assignment | SEE Revision Strategy

This strategy is one which will take 20-30 minutes total, and its sentence-level focus  will help make the structure of your writing visible.  The name of this strategy is an acronym, to help  you SEE what’s going on in a paper:
Statements
Examples
Explanation

Essays are composed of statements, supported by examples, made significant through explanation. Depending on the type and purpose of the essay, these will be present in varying strengths and weaknesses; however, in a strong essay, these three elements of SEE never exist alone, and never with just two of them.

You will need to have your essay open, and you will be highlighting every single sentence. Afterward, you’ll take a look at the result, and write a short reflective paragraph on what you notice in your writing. (You can do this right in your Word doc, or you can copy/paste the essay into the Text Submission box here and work with it, OR, if you want to go old-school, you can print it, highlight it with *real* highlighters, and attach a photo (or photos) of your work into the assignment. 🙂

Step One:
Select the pink highlighter color, and highlight all the STATEMENTS in your paper in pink.(These are the claims you make.)
With the yellow highlighter, mark all the EXAMPLES. (Quotes, statistics, paraphrased points from the author, sometimes your own experience as examples.)
With the blue highlighter, mark all the EXPLANATION.(The sentences extending the thinking of the example, showing why it’s important.)
Sometimes, it’s hard to distinguish between statements and explanation…don’t worry too much about this and go with your “gut feeling” when going through to highlight.

Step Two:
Lean back and look at your paper. Visually, what’s going on? Is the essay showing a balance of colors between pink, yellow and blue? (Likely, then, this is a strong essay with support and reflection included.)  Is the essay all pink? (This means that you’ve made a lot of statements and have a lot to say, but need to add support to back it up.) Is it mainly pink and yellow? (This means you’re giving the support, but missing the crucial step of providing reflection and explanation to show why the examples are meaningful and how they support your purpose.)

Step Three:
Add a lengthy paragraph of reflection, digging in and discussing your findings. What did you notice? What additional changes might you make as a result of this strategy? How will awareness of SEE help guide you when writing future pieces?