After deciding on a topic, a writer should try to discover the significance of the past event. Maybe the event is significant because of the difference in perspectives between your past and the present. Why is the memory important for you, the writer? For your reader? Whatever your memory, the reader should feel a connection with the memory and be able to discover meaning in your experience. In establishing this connection, you will create what the text refers to as "public resonance." In other words, you will be addressing the writer and reader’s shared relationship with an issue. This resonance is critical to achieving the lesson goal of discovering something meaningful about the past that can be shared with others and valued by them.

We Think…We Write…We Revise

This video starts with a quick tip about punctuating dialogue, followed by what it means to write a series of drafts and the importance of the revision phase in the writing process. Expert writers talk about the number of drafts they write, how they revise, and how they know when the work is finished.

Video Focus Points

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

• How does punctuating dialogue relate to good writing?
• How does revision help writers improve their writing?
• Do you listen to your inner editor?

Peer Review

Student writers demonstrate the peer review process by presenting a summary of strengths and weaknesses of their own papers to the writer’s group. The power of collective experience and ‘memory’ in a writer’s work is explored and emphasized by the expert writers.

Video Focus Points

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

• Why is feedback important to the writing process?
• How might the discussion of strengths and weaknesses in the students’ writing help you revise your own writing?

Tools of the Trade

Many textbook authors believe the goal of academic writers is to reveal something new or share insights on some complex idea that would otherwise remain hidden. As a student writer, you may be wondering what tools you need to scrape away the outer layers and “dig” for meaning. This activity tests your knowledge of the tools and terms used in the writing process.

A memory is a beautiful thing; it’s almost a desire that you miss.

—Gustave Flaubert