Errors Analysis and First Revisions of the Creator/Victim Essay

Having drafted the Creator's mindset essay and having been graded on that draft, you will do three things with the paper in the next stage of the development process, which I call the Errors Analysis project. For the Errors Analysis project, 1] you will edit and revise the papers to make them 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 along with your errors analysis document for my (re)evaluation.

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

1. First, you will need the evaluated copies of your essay, with the grading marks and my comments.
2. Refer to your Norton online Handbook to discern the nature of the error. You may also use the other OWL Links resources to understand errors and make corrections if it is not clear in the Norton Field Guide's online handbook section.
3. 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 marked printout of the paper which I have returned to you using any color of ink except black and circle that number;
   • then consult the handbook, so that you understand what the error is, why it should be changed, and how to correct it.
4. Correct the error on your paper and on the errors analysis document, and number the correction on the marked paper by hand (do not type the numbers on the corrected copy) so that it corresponds with the number on your errors analysis document.
5. On the errors analysis document, type the number 1 for the first error you are correcting and explain, in your own words and in complete and grammatically correct sentences why you made the correction. This is the errors analysis document.

5a. Do not copy or explain verbatim from a handbook 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.

5b. 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.

5c. 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 is an important way to learn how to avoid repeating the same errors in subsequent papers, so be conscientious and do it well.

6. When you are finished, you will turn in 1) the marked 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 paper.