In the Context of M. Harriss’s article
After reading Harriss’s article a bit more thoroughly, I’m starting to believe that there’s no such thing as a true one-drafter. This change of mind comes from her mentioning of pre-text. If the use of pre-text is considered a form of revision when writing, then everybody at some point does soem revision. This revision is simply not always visible. I was not even aware that I did it until I read the article, or, more accurately, I didn’t know that there was a name for it. I just always assumed that if you arrange everything in your head, with perhaps a few written out notes, and then wrote your paper from that point, that it was written without revision and therefore in only one draft.
Based on both my own process and from what Matt told me about his process, I would say that he and I both use quite a bit of pre-text. At the same time, however, I can’t stand it when a teacher tells me to do a rought draft, first. I can see how that would have been useful when everything was written with pen and paper, or even with a typewriter. However, in this day and age, when we have the internet and word processers, the turning in of rough drafts shouldn’t be forced. It should be a personal choice of the student who is writing the paper.
