Harris Chapter Five

In Rewriting, Joseph Harris discusses the different approaches that a person should take when attempting to write an essay based on another text. In chapter five, Harris covers the topic of revision and shows that revision is more than looking for mistakes such as misspellings and grammar errors, but asking a series of questions that not only allows you to edit but also add on. He says that when revising, the writer should not just focus on editing the misspellings and style (the bad things about your essay) but build to the areas that are well written to make your essay stronger. Harris wants the reader to come to terms (figuring out what your topic is asking of you), forward (decide what works best and add on to), counter (determine what else can be said), and looking ahead (what is something you haven't said yet that you could close strongly with). I feel this is an important chapter to read because it has such valuable information about ideas on how to improve your essay. Harris tells its reader that they worry about the little editing mistakes more than what works best in their essay, which is critical in the revision process. I have to admit I am guilty of committing this same act that he talks and I'm glad he mentions it because it helped me realize that I should build on my good parts and not just tear down the bad parts. The section he wrote about looking ahead really affected me because I have trouble with my conclusion paragraphs and he gave me tips on how not to be repetitive. Harris asks his readers to consider questions to ask themselves, such as what else could they add to the conclusion to make it sound new and how can the writer "develop a new line of thinking." I believe that Harris really understands the English language and what it takes to not just write an essay well, but to write any piece of text well. Not only dos he give examples of what to do, but he explains the common thought of people (such as the revision points he made) and how these are not the best way of going about creating a strong, well written text.