Making an essay does not contain only the process of writing itself but reading it through again and again searching for mistakes, making it more and more perfect. This is revising.
I have read a lot of opinions about this work written by students and all of them agreed in its necessity. It may not be as amusing as drafting itself but the writer has to 'make sure that the final form is perfect, otherwise it is not worth so much effort'- wrote one of the students quite reasonably. Besides agreeing in this many different essays got born about the advantages, results and ways of revising. I will not analyse the reasons why students have so different ideas about this process which has a simple aim: to make a perfect essay (and the truth is that I read many similar writings but a few of them really contained new aspects). My task (chosen by myself) is to give information about the steps of making an essay.
Reading through the essay first obvious mistakes are found: wrong spelling and grammar. Non of the students can hope that they will write a grammatically correct text when they do not use their mother tongue. The reason is that (if they are lucky) 'the flux of their ideas come so quickly and so dense' that there is no time to think about whether the sentences, which have been just written down, are grammatically correct or not. I do not know if somebody who learns a foreign language will ever be able to use it without any thinking about structures, I am pessimistic in connection with this, I think this is only one's mother tongue which can be used like this (if somebody is lucky she or he has too of them). Paying attention to grammar is a plus task. (One of my friends thought that writing an essay in foreign language contains two parts: drafting it in Hungarian and translating it.)
During checking it is advisable to use a grammar and a dictionary, though it is useful to have them already during the writing process because however engaged the author is by his or her thoughts he or she can have problems which cannot be solved by using her or his head. Wrong spelling can rise not only from ignorance but, mainly during typing, it can happen by chance (using Hungarian language too.) For example in the last sentence I typed 'nly' instead of 'only'.
If somebody do not spare his or her time by not checking their written texts the result of his or her work will be not only a grammatically correct essay but by meeting difficulties, searching for and finding the good solution the author will learn from the previous mistakes and avoid them later on.
The other step of revising is similar to the work of a beautician: one may find awkward sentences which, though being grammatically correct, should be redrafted. The author can also notice repetition of words which he or she cannot pay attention to during thinking about sentences like separate units. In their essays students tend to use words which are acceptable in informal speech but in a written piece of work they do not meet the requirements. Because most of them are aware of these words being not proper in an essay, reading through it they will change them. They can also avoid their essay containing extra phrases like 'certainly' or 'very' which do not change the meaning.
During revision one can pick some better expressions. Hungarians (and the people of any countries) are inclined to make new expressions for the people of the country the language of which they are using. It is a kind ambition to give something maybe as a benefit for the opportunity of borrowing that tongue but it is not worth the effort because these new ideas probably will never be accepted.
It is not rare that the author did not manage to express what he or she wanted to and again this can be discovered only if the writer do not think that when he or she takes down the pen or types the last period the work ends. Time can help if somebody knows an expression and intends to use it but it does not come to her or his mind at that particular time, he or she has a good chance of its doing so when he or she thinks about it for the second time.
Writing is the process of giving a form to abstract thoughts. The result of this, besides the grammatical mistakes, never-ending sentences being born can be which are difficult to read not only for the reader but even for the writer so these are advisable to reform.
The essay has to follow a main thought and each paragraph has to give an extra information about it. If my task was be to represent the process of creating a written piece of work by a geometrical solid I would choose the pyramid standing on its peak which would mean the beginning and the way its superficies, bordering bigger and bigger capacity as we advance upwards, would show how the thoughts got expounded. Revising gives a chance of discovering whether 'the thread of the essay is not torn' and the transition between the paragraphs is not logical. As the main aim of writing an essay is to make the reader understand the author's thoughts, he or she has to pay attention to its being written in a logical and understandable order.
It is an unpleasant experience when one finishes writing, feels relieved and reading through the fruit of the effort the student realizes that he or she has not fulfilled the requirements and expounded not the topic given but another one, but it is still better to work a bit more with it than not being aware of it, handing it in its original form, expecting a good grade and getting it back with the instructions how to write a better one.
It is also advisable to 'make sure that every important detail of the theme is included in the text for understanding it perfectly', doing this new thoughts may emerge. The essay can only be said proper if there are not questions still open to be answered, if it has a real conclusion.
When the writer feels that he or she cannot do anything more and the work has become perfect but he or she would like to be entirely sure about it, it is useful to ask one of the friends to examine it, promising an amusing experience or doing the washing-up instead of him or her. I mention this latter one because I have to confess I refused this request of two of my roommates just last week but they did not promise anything. I did not refuse the wishes because of the topics (1. phullerens by a history student, 2. physical-chemistry, which was my nightmare last year) but because of not having time.
For the case that the author cannot find any curious person I offer another method: tape-recording. The reason why I have not mentioned this yet is my agreeing with the opinion of one of the students whose pieces of work are the basis of this one, according to which this process needs too much time and 'though it can be useful, it is not important after a thorough revise'.
'Tape-recording provides us with the effect that our writing has on the reader' so we really deputize another person when we are listening to ourselves (it is helped by our voice being different from how we hear it - and as for me it is not a pleasant experience). Doing this we can examine the text from an objective point of view.
It is not all the same how the text is read out. The important parts need stressing and this way the listener can check whether the message of her or his thoughts can reach the readers.
Another benefit of application of this method is 'bringing new relationship between author and text, author and audience, audience and text. A student, who must have too much spare-time, wrote that the aim of tape-recording is enjoying of one's revised, perfect work.
I have tried to expound all of the reasons why it is necessary to revise essays and since I do not have any more ideas about this theme I can start carrying out the revising itself. And during this some new thoughts may emerge.
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