4.4. Revision Exercise

Vanderbilt University's writing center defines the Reverse Outline process and offers exercises to enrich it. We'll work through their steps now:

To make a reverse outline: 

1. Number the paragraphs of your paper. (You can print your paper or find a way to do this on an electronic version)
   
2. On a separate sheet of paper, or using the note cards, list the number of paragraphs in your paper, giving a line or two for each number (or a card for each) 
   
3. Turn to your paper, read the first paragraph, and write on your list or card the main point you make in this paragraph. 
   
1. If you can’t summarize the content of a paragraph, you probably have multiple ideas in play in that paragraph that may need revising, note each of the ideas expressed in the paragraph. 
4. Do the same for each paragraph of your paper in turn. 
   
5. Now focus on your list (or cards), which reflects the direction of your paper 
   
1. How well does the list cohere? 
2. How does one idea connect to the next? 
3. Are the connections between ideas made explicit in your writing? 
6. Use your outline to do four things: 
   
1. See whether each paragraph plays a role in supporting your thesis. 
2. What needs to be revised – your thesis? Or the order of the points in your argument? 
3. Look for unnecessary repetition of ideas. 
4. Compare your reverse outline with your paper to see whether the sentences in each paragraph are related to the main point of that paragraph, per the reverse outline.