Ask OASISAcademic Writing for Multilingual Students: Using a Grammar Revision Journal
Last update 7/7/2017
Video Length: 2:17
Visual: Walden logo at bottom of screen along with notepad and pencil background.
Audio: Guitar music.
Visual: The video’s title is displayed on a background image of a dictionary page. The screen opens to the following slides: Using a Grammar Revision Journal
- Can help develop self-awareness of frequent errors
- Can help you become a more independent writer and reviser
Audio: Developing self-awareness of your writing strengths and weaknesses is essential to becoming a better writer. And developing self-revision strategies can help you to become a more independent writer and reviser of your own work. One way to help develop this awareness for frequent grammatical errors you tend to make in your writing is to keep a grammar revision journal. Grammar errors tend to follow patterns, so once you are able to identify the types of errors you most commonly make, you will be able to focus specifically on them.
Visual: The following is added to the slide: Grammar Journal = Keep track of the types of errors you tend to make.
Audio: This journal is a place for you to keep track of the types of errors you are making, examples of these errors, correct revisions for the errors, and the grammatical rule to follow for correct usage.
Visual: The slide changes to show the Grammar Revision Journal as follows:
Grammar Revision Journal: Example
Fill out this journal to keep track of your most common grammar concerns and practice revising them.
Issue: Parallel structure
|
Date |
Example |
Revision |
Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
|
11/10/15
|
The students were unprepared, poorly behaved, and disrupted the class. |
The students were unprepared, poorly behaved, and disruptive. |
Use the adjective form for all of these items in the list to keep them parallel in structure. |
|
11/25/15
|
I am both excited for the internship and I am nervous.
|
I am both excited and nervous for the internship.
|
With the “both…and” structure, the subject and the sentence does not need to be repeated. |
Issue: Incorrect semicolon
|
Date |
Example |
Revision |
Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
|
12/3/15 |
Because there were so few participants; Jackson (2010) noted that study’s results were inconclusive. |
Because there were so few participants, Jackson (2010) noted that study’s results were inconclusive. |
Semicolons are used to separate two independent clauses. In this case, there is a dependent clause followed by an independent clause, so a comma is used instead. |
Audio: As you can see, this Grammar Revision Journal is simply a Word Document that is divided up into columns, giving you a place to keep track of your grammatical errors, revisions, and grammar rules. In the example here, I’ve kept track of two types of grammatical errors: parallel structure and semicolon usage. Under parallel structure, I started by listing the date that I made the error just for my own tracking purposes so I can see how often I do this. I then write the sentence itself that contains the error under the example column and my correct revision under the revision column. In the last column, I list the rule for the grammatical error to help me remember it for my future writing. You can see that I’ve done the same for the second grammatical error listed here, semicolons.
Please visit the Writing Center website to download a grammar revision journal template or make your own. Also see our webpage on Revising for Grammar for other ideas.
Visual: The screen changes to end with the words “Walden University Writing Center” and “Questions? E-mail writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu.”