To finish the first essay project you will do three things. 1) You will edit and revise the paper to make it perfect. 2) You will write an analysis, in your own words--not quoted verbatim, of the editing errors in your paper. 3.) You will turn in the revision for my (re)evaluation.

You’ll turn in paper copy of three things: the graded essay which I have already marked, the corrected and revised copy, and the errors analysis document. This is the process.

1. First, you will need the evaluated copy of your essay, with its grading marks and my comments.
2. Copy and paste a sentence with an error (or errors) in it to a MS Word document.
3. Refer to an online handbook (such as the GGW) or your paper Norton Field Guide to Writing to identify errors and make corrections.
4. With each editing, punctuation, grammatical, or documentation error that needs to be changed, you will do this: First, by hand, number the error on the printout of the graded essay which I have returned to you using any color of ink except black and circle that number; then consult the handbook, or the online GGW, or another reference source so that you understand what the error is, why it should be changed, and how to correct it.
5. Correct the error on your essay and on the errors analysis document, and number the correction on the marked essay by hand (do not type the numbers on the corrected copy) so that it corresponds with the number on your errors analysis document.
6. On the errors analysis document, type the number 1 next to the first sentence you are correcting, and underneath the correction explain, in your own words, and in complete, grammatically correct sentences why you made the correction. This is the errors analysis document.

6a. Do not copy or explain verbatim, from any source, why you have made a correction. I want you to explain the corrections in your own words so that it is clear to me that you understand what the problem is and how to correct it.

6b. Do not simply describe what change you have made; I’ll be able to see that in the final draft. For example, "I forgot to put in a comma," doesn’t show that you know why the comma was needed. "Commas should separate a series of modifiers," shows that you understand that convention for use of commas. The errors analysis can be tedious and repetitive, but that is good. Repetition reinforces understanding, and you don’t want me to have to keep marking the same editing errors in the rest of your essays this semester because you will not like your grades if I don't see improvements.

6c. If it’s not clear to me that you understand what the errors are, how to fix them and, therefore, how to avoid them hereafter, you won’t recieve credit for the errors analysis assignment. Pretty tough, huh? The errors analysis will be a graded assignment, so be conscientious and do it well.

7. When you are finished, you will turn in 1) the graded paper with the errors numbered by hand in colored ink, 2) the edited, printed final draft with the corrections numbered by hand to correspond to the graded draft, 3) the errors analysis document, with corrections explained and numbered to correspond to both drafts of the essay.