College Composition and Communication Jun 2019

The Emotional Work of Revision

Bruce Ballenger ; Kelly Myers

Abstract

Forty years ago, Nancy Sommers identified dissonance and the ways in which writers respond to incongruities between “intention and execution” as a core competency of revision. While still a challenge for student writers, dissonance now takes different forms, particularly for advanced student writers who embrace theories of revision but struggle to implement the practices. Unspoken, these experiences of dissonance become internalized as fear-based narratives and scripts that negatively impact student writers. Through in-process reflection, this study surfaces the ways in which students navigate the dissonance by adapting, or rescripting, their fear into a productive element of writing and revision. To better understand the interplay of strategy and struggle, we argue that revision pedagogies for advanced student writers must take the emotional work of revision into consideration

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2019-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc201930180
CompPile
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
revision
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Lambrecht (2025)
    Using Eye Tracking as a Peer Review Tool for Visual and Digital Compositions
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  2. Stenberg et al. (2024)
    Acts of Recognition: A Study of Faculty Writers’ Experiences of Engaging Peer Review
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  3. Mack (2024)
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  4. Kennedy (2024)
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  5. Comstock (2023)
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  1. Miller et al. (2023)
    Thinking about Feeling: The Roles of Emotion in Reflective Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Vossoughi et al. (2021)
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  3. Williams (2021)
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  4. Beare et al. (2020)
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CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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