These figures are from pp. 69 and 70 of Engaging Ideas, by John C. Bean (Jossey-Bass, 2001). They show the same bit of a not very satisfactory piece of student writing marked up in two different ways. The first focuses on the many mechanical problems, the second asks the writer for more development of concepts.

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Editing Oriented Commenting Strategy	Revision Oriented Commenting Strategy

Students who bring corrected papers to the Writing Center are often confused about what the instructor expects as a revision. In many cases, if the instructor has marked both mechanical errors and content problems—either in the margins or in an end note—the student prefers to work on the mechanics, because this seems more concrete and clearly defined. I really like the “Revision-Oriented Commenting Strategy” because it makes clear that the student needs to think the subject through better. Editing is given as a final instruction down at the bottom.

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