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Writing is Revising

06/10/2025
profile-icon Emma Halverson
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Imagine: You’ve just completed the first draft of your essay. You’ve hit the required page count, penned the last sentence, and saved your document. Congratulations! You’re done!

… or are you?

Writing the first draft of your essay is only the first step. You still need to revise. Your argument may have changed between when you started and when you ended the essay, or maybe you can find a clearer way to express your thoughts. Very few essays emerge fully formed from your mind without needing adjustments. As the English professor Donald Murray put it, “Writing is revising.”

So, how do you revise? What is revising? 

Revision isn’t just checking for typos and making sure your formatting is correct. It’s examining your paper as a whole, ensuring that the parts work together to say what you want them to say. Try the following strategies:

  • Read the paper aloud. Notice where you stumble and where the flow seems “off.”
     
  • Have someone you trust read the paper for you. Ask them what questions they have.
     
  • Print the paper and cut apart each paragraph. Can you put it back together without looking at the original? If not, you may need to add more transitional language or reorder the paragraphs. 
     
  • Have someone you trust try to put the paper back together. 
     
  • Take a break from the paper if you can. Come back to it in a few days with fresh eyes.

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to make a tutoring appointment with the SLC. We can help! You can also check out this SLC tipsheet for more revision strategies.

Happy revising!

 

Photo by Becky Fantham on Unsplash

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A blank notebook and a coffee cup on a wooden table

Writing without Fear: The Magic of the Attic Notebook

05/05/2025
profile-icon Emma Halverson
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The Fear of the Blank Page

If you want to nurture your creative writing skills, simply getting started can be tough. The fear of the blank page comes for many of us! Even professional writers fight to wrangle their inner critic. Laini Taylor, the author of the bestselling young adult novels Smoke & Bone and Strange the Dreamer, has written openly on her blog about her struggles with writer’s block, procrastination, and self-doubt. 

 

To overcome her fear of the blank page, Laini Taylor invented a freewriting exercise called an “attic notebook.” If you want to get more comfortable writing creatively, give an attic notebook a try!

 

What is an Attic Notebook?

In Tayor’s words, an attic notebook is:

 

an ongoing writing exercise in which you commit to filling up a notebook in short, regular sessions without looking back to read what you wrote until after it’s full + one month. That is, you only move forward, never peeking backward, and once you reach the last page, you close it, put the date on the cover and set it aside, only to be opened after a month has gone by.

 

My experience has been that when I finally get to read it, I remember almost none of it and it feels like finding a weird notebook in an attic, full of glittering fragments of stories, poems, ideas, imagery. Hence the name: “attic notebook.” 

 

Essentially, an attic notebook is a judgement-free zone: a place to experiment and make mistakes without worrying about structure or quality. Only once you finish the notebook do you allow yourself to plumb its depths for inspiration.

 

No single writing exercise will work for everyone, but sometimes giving yourself space to write without judgement can help you become more comfortable putting words on a page. To borrow from Tayor again:

 

Since you’re not allowed to read what you wrote, you can’t judge it, so you can’t get discouraged. You turn the page and move on. The further you get into the notebook, the more those early pages turn to mysteries, and the quieter the inner critic becomes. Eventually, in fact, your inner critic will just abandon the space altogether because it has nothing to do! It will wither and retreat. [...] Overall, process will be allowed to outweigh outcome, enabling a nimbler, looser creative mindset.

 

Set aside ten or fifteen minutes each day to write in your attic notebook, and you may be surprised by how quickly the pages fill up—and how freely the words flow.

Image Credit: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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Mural image in Triboro 102

More about the Mural Project!

03/17/2025
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Official poster for the collaboration of the 

mural project

Abel Miller- Art Education

 

Welcome to the final installment of “The Triboro 102 Mural” only featured in the Learning Commons Blog. Last year I started writing about the journey of this mural going up in, you guessed it, Triboro Room 102, in Fall 2024. That date has passed and the mural is in fact up and I am  finally finishing this series in the Learning Commons Blog!

 

Our last phase of the project was “Creation,” which took place between Summer and Fall of 2024. While the members of 360 Thinkers originally planned to paint the mural, to the point of online students planning to come to Denver to help paint, it was decided by admin that it be a vinyl wrap. The students then had to create it digitally and with help from staff and MonsterInk changed the dimensions to fit the wall correctly. With much back and forth and pride, Zu and Abel completed the mural in August of 2024 and was put up in Room 102 of the Triboro building on October 2nd 2024.

 



 

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Not so hidden treasures!

02/24/2025
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If you haven't ever explored our Library Guides, you might not know all that we offer. 

For example, check out our College 101 guide.

We also have a guide about critical thinking and another one about media literacy. 

And Dr. Black's Warrior Queens class has been building a guide about weapons and armor.

We have a guide for Art History: Theories and Methods that covers starting points for the theories you learn. 

We have a guide for professional practice that includes business information. 

If you could make a guide, what would you make?

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Why do we cite?

02/17/2025
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As you are finishing up this term, and getting your bibliographies and citations in order, you might wonder why we cite, and also why we cite in different styles. 

The reason why we might use one style over another is often determined by the field in which we are working. Purdue OWL breaks it down this way:

MLA (Modern language Association) emphasizes Authorship, so authors are very important.

APA (American Psychological Association) emphasizes date. Since publication date is important in the social sciences, APA Style is more likely to be used. 

CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style) emphasizes source origin. History and art history are concerned greatly with source, so footnotes and detailed references lists are preferred. 

There are a lot of other reasons why we might use one over another. APA tries to reduce bias, for example, so first initials, instead of names are included in references. CMOS has a much more robust way of including images, which makes is preferable in art history. We don't use MLA much at RMCAD, because we teach fewer literature classes where it would be used. 

One of the big differences between APA and CMOS is the way citations are built within the paper itself. They both use final bibliographies or references lists, but within the paper, APA uses in-text citations while CMOS uses footnotes. from the description above, you can probably figure out why. APA is concernced about dates so a citation to Purdue OWL (2018) is sufficient as it points to the item in the reference list. CMOS wants a more complete source, which the footnote will provide. 

I hope this helps clear things up. 

As always, make an appointment with the SLC if you need help finalizing those citations!

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Week 5

02/03/2025
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Okay! it is week five and you are staring down the last few weeks of the term. There is still a lot to do. How are you going to organize what you need to get done?

Here are some resources from the SLC to help you with time management and organization:

First, check out our tipsheet on Time Management! There you will find tips on breaking down assignments and using timers to help you set goals. 

If you are writing a paper, you might find our tipsheet on Graphic Organizers helpful. If you are trying to organize your thoughts, admit to yourself that you are an art student and use visual tools!

If you are just struggling with motivation, check out our tipsheet on that! Sometimes just remembering your dreams can help you get started again. 

And always, the SLC is on your side. Make an appointment and let us help!

 

 

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decorative-image

SLC YouTube!

01/27/2025
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Did you know that the SLC has a YouTube account where we keep all our helpful videos?

We have made playlists for many of the important tools you use, such as  Maya and Revit. We also have a tips and tricks series for some of the common questions we get asked, like “how do I allow pop-ups?”

You can also request that we make a video if you are struggling with some aspect of your learning. 

Contact the SLC at learning@rmcad.edu and enjoy watching some videos!

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Library Databases just for you!

01/21/2025
profile-icon Martha Neth
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Hey everyone, you all know that library databases are available on the student portal. Here is a quick list of what we offer. If you have any trouble accessing the databases from the portal, remember to allow pop-ups in your browser! If you are still having trouble, contact us at library@rmcad.edu.

 

JSTOR and ArtStor 

JSTOR is a research database primarily used for art history and the humanities. Artstor is a digital image library.

 

Berg Fashion Library. 

Coverage of world fashion including journal articles, ebooks, and images.

 

Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts

170 ebooks in the applied visual arts. Great for photo, graphic design, drawing, and more. 

 

Building Green

Sustainable design resources for architecture and interior design – includes case studies and information about materials. 

 

EbscoHost (includes Art & Architecture Source, eBooks, and more)

Substantial research database for pretty much everything. 

 

Fairchild Books Interior Design Library

Fairchild Books Interior Design Library about 70 acclaimed textbooks and dedicated supplementary resources, to support interior design curriculum.

 

Films on Demand 

More than 30,000 of streaming educational films and documentaries

 

Kanopy

Movies and documentaries.

 

Music Online: Listening

Comprehensive streaming audio collection

 

Naxos Music Library

Streaming classical music

 

Stash Media

Online magazine that showcases exceptional motion design, visual effects, and animation projects. 

 

WGSN

Trend forecasting.  We subscribe to fashion and interior design, but don’t let that stop you. You want to know what colors will be popular in 2024, visit WGSN. Lots of lifestyle forecasting is included. 

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Meet Your Tutors!

01/01/2025
profile-icon Jenni Pulley
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The SLC consists of professional and peer tutors to assist with a wide range of topics from understanding assignments to navigating software and mentorship. Learn more about our tutors below!

Aria

Animation Tutor

  • Perspective & Figure Drawing
  • StoryBoard Pro
  • ToonBoom & Harmony
  • Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Foundations

Aura

Game Art Tutor & Library Manager

  • Game Art & 3D Animation
  • Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro
  • LMS and Computer Navigation
  • Substance Painter & ZBrush
  • Maya & Unreal Engine

Chloe J

Illustration, Focus in Concept Art.

  • Foundations classes
  • Drawing - Perspective, value, mark-making, and figure
  • Color theory and painting

Dasha

Fashion Design Tutor

  • Fashion Construction l - lll
  • History of Fashion
  • Draping
  • Fashion Illustration
  • Adobe Indesign, Illustrator and Procreate

Deb

Interior Design Tutor

  • Revit, Sketchup & AutoCAD
  • Time Management and Reading Strategies
  • Adobe InDesign and Photoshop
  • Financial Principles and Foundational Mathematics
  • CMS and Citations

Emma

Writing Tutor

  • Academic writing
  • Creative writing
  • CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style)
  • Citations
  • Liberal arts

 

Jenni

Graphic Design Tutor

  • Foundations Classes
  • Ideation, Process and Organization
  • Software Navigation, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office
  • Fiber Art and Sculpting

Katharine

Interior Design Tutor

  • Time Management
  • Foundations
  • Perspective Drawing
  • Hand Rendering
  • Basic Adobe
  • Basic AutoCAD
  • Beginner to Advanced Revit

Lauren

Interior Design Tutor CAD - Intermediate to Advanced, Interior Design, Revit - All Levels

  • Interior Design
  • Revit
  • AutoCAD

Martha, MA, MLS.

Director of the Learning Commons

  • I've got you covered on research
  • I can answer questions with the best of them.
  • LMS Navigation
  • Foundations & Art History

Nathan

Music Tutor

  • Music Production tutoring
  • Writing about Music
  • Music Theory and Musicianship tutoring

Ryan

Music Tutor

  • ProTools
  • Garage Band
  • Music Theory & Writing

 

Make an appointment today!

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Welcome Back, Students!

01/01/2025
profile-icon Jenni Pulley
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Spring A has started! We hope everyone is feeling comfortable as the new term begins.

 

Let’s go over a few things:

 

The Learning Commons consists of the Student Learning Center (SLC) and Library. We are here to provide academic support. This means we can help with coursework, understanding assignments, providing feedback on your work, navigating software, and more.  

 

 

We want to help you to learn more effectively! Here are some tools to assist you:

 

  1. Our library databases. These are all available through the portal, but you can get a glimpse at them here: https://rmcad.libguides.com/az/databases
    1. If you go to the portal and the links don’t work, check your popup blocker. You have to allow pop-ups. 99.99% of the time, that is the reason the databases don’t work. 
    2. The process for logging into EBSCOHost has changed. We've created a tip sheet to walk you through it.
  2. Our SLC scheduler: https://rmcad.mywconline.com/
    1. You need to make an account, this is not automatic. Use your RMCAD email address and make up a password of your choosing. 
    2. Once you have an account you can choose your topic and find the person who can help. We meet on Google Meet, Zoom, or in person.
  3. Our SLC Shared Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0AE5f5szuWpX6Uk9PVA
    1. This drive has all our tipsheets – we even have a spreadsheet with the tipsheets all linked!
  4. Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RmcadSLC
    1. This channel has helpful videos of all kinds, including how to access library resources. 

 

If you need further assistance or have questions, please email us at learning@rmcad.edu.

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