by Kristin Huggins, Consultant
Imagine, if you will, that you’ve just finished drafting your paper. You sit back with smug satisfaction, eyes flitting down to the lower left-hand corner of your Word document to repeatedly read the page and word counts, further reminders of the quasi-masterpiece that fell from your fingertips. It feels as if a monumental task akin to the likes of summiting Everest has just occurred, and you are tempted to sit and marinate in its glow now that it has been accomplished. A voice whispers to you: “It’s done. It is finished.” (Ten points to the reader who recognizes both of these quotes)
For some writers, revisions are the bane of their existence; for others, it is the Valhalla of their writing process. No matter how you feel about it, revision work demands patience, dedication, persistence, and grit. It can be painful, and rightfully so, as the word revision itself denotes the act of alteration, change, or correction. You are essentially asked to take the thing which you brought into the world – often through tears and copious amounts of caffeine – and irrevocably alter it, sometimes beyond all recognition. This is understandably difficult for creators of any kind.
For these reasons alone, many writers (even the well-seasoned, battle-hardy ones) shy away from the act of revisionary work. Even if the word “revision” does not send a chill down the spine, writers may find it challenging to transition from drafting to revision, as these two actions require very different sets of writing muscles. Therefore, instead of allowing your work to gather figurative dust on your computer desktop, warm up those muscles by asking yourself the following questions:
- What am I trying to communicate? What was my original purpose/thesis/argument? Has this changed? Does my draft properly convey this purpose (new or otherwise)?
- Does each subsection of my work follow a logical progression of flow throughout? Are there any areas that could be moved elsewhere that make more sense?
- Can I confidently recite the main themes of each section? Do these themes make sense together?
This is where thematic progression comes into play. Thematic progression is a writing strategy where a developed theme is repeated, repurposed, and built upon throughout the document. This strategy is used to enhance the message the writer seeks to communicate through that theme (or themes) to their primary stakeholders (i.e., the targeted audience). A theme is versatile in that it can be as simple as a topic sentence, or as complex as a thesis statement. There are also a variety of ways to organize themes as a writer: linear, categorical, ordinal, etc. I like to imagine themes as colors on a palette; when placed together, some fit quite nicely while others are an afront to the eyes!
Several scholars have spoken about the power of themes, rhemes, and thematic progression in how students approach higher-level writing and how a better understanding of these concepts leads to higher-order communication through the written word (Danes, 1974; Halliday, 1985; Hawes, 2015; Lee, 2009; Thomas, 1991; Wang, 2007). However, the purpose of this blog is not to review the literature but rather to provide you – dear reader – with practical, real-world strategies for applying thematic progression analysis to your toolbox of tricks for revision.
When applied through the lens of a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation, writers can utilize thematic progression to identify macro-level ideas, concepts, and flow from a full text perspective. This reduces the risk of the writer getting “bogged down” in the weeds of the writing (a common experience for those completing larger works); instead the writer is placed in the stratosphere of their work with a bird’s eye view to consider whether they’ve achieved overall tonal congruency (i.e., complete alignment of their message/argument/goal).
This is especially vital when shifting from drafting to revision. At this moment, the bulk of your content is present (save for secondary rewrites/additions/removals). You have a decent preliminary idea of where your work is going, and how it will land. Now is the perfect time to go back, section by section, to determine whether each paragraph, subsection, section, and chapter supports one another and provides congruency throughout the flow of your writing. At the GWC, we refer to these as structural edits – writing concerns made with a broad stroke brush. Before you dive into copyedits, line edits, and proofreading (all arguably less stressful to tackle, yet less effective if the big-picture issues remain untouched), you must first address the structure, flow, and congruency of your work.
Let’s put this into practice with an example exercise.
Reverse Outlining:
- Select a section (or subsection, if from a larger work) of your writing to review. Any section will do. If you’re faint of heart, start with your strongest one. For the adrenaline junkies out there, you know what to do.
- Methodically read through each paragraph and make notes elsewhere (I prefer journaling, but Notes/Word documents are also helpful tools) on the main theme/themes presented.
- Complete for the entire section. Make sure to list subheadings and headings where appropriate. You should now have a completed backward outline for review.
Action Steps:
- First: consider the flow of the themes. Does this order make sense?
- Second: consider the marriage of themes and headings. Do any headings need to be revised to reflect the content within them properly?
- Third: consider whether more than one theme was identified in a single paragraph. Is this appropriate (i.e., a secondary theme), or does this require the creation of a new paragraph?
- Fourth: consider your topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph. Do the topic sentences and themes match one another?
These actions are great launchpads for the beginnings of revision! They also work beautifully when completed in order. By following this blueprint, you begin with macro-level structural concerns and drill down though smaller areas of structural issues such as topic sentences and inner-paragraph civil wars (i.e., more than one topic presented).
Take heart, dear reader. Revision is not a linear process. However, with the use of thematic progression analysis through exercises like Reverse Outlining, you will be well on your way to diving head-first into the deep end of successful revisionist writing practices.