Ch. 5 Reading Reflection

Chapter 5 is all about revising and editing documents and the book outlines another acronym to help the the revision of documents. DOCS -- which stands for design, organization, content, and sentences -- works hand-in-hand with the processes of HATS (headings, art, typography, spacing), CLOUD (coherence, length, organization, unity, and development), and SPELL (structure, punctuation, errors, language, and length). Each letter of the DOCS process correlates with one of these other processes. DOCS is a sound way to holistically revise a document and make sure that everything has been accounted for.

The chapter talks about how a good revision of a document focuses specifically on content and the importance of knowing the purpose of a document before reading it over. Knowing the purpose helps the the one revising better edit the document so that the writer's objective is communicated clearly. I experienced this recently as I helped edit the personal statements my sister had written for nursing school applications. When she would give me a paper to revise, I always had her attach the questions the school wanted answered so that I might be able to see how "on-target" she was in answering the prompt. As I read her papers, I did my best to cut out "fluff" and check for the organization of her ideas.I found that more likely than not, when fluff was added to bulk up a statement, the fluff just ended up being a reiteration of a previously stated idea, and took away from the main topic being addressed. I found that being concise, organized, and to the point made for better writing and a read as a better understanding of the question and topic at hand. I also found that there were times when she would have me read her papers, and I wouldn't be invested in really reading through it. During those times, I wasn't able to give constructive feedback and it just ended up wasting both my time and hers. The chapter talks about finding someone to revise your work who will be "knowledgeable and will be forthright in their feedback," and from my time editing those essays, I couldn't agree more with that statement.