Text-based changes do affect the content. They can be subdivided into microstructure changes, which affect local content only, and macrostructure changes, which affect the gist of the whole text. The major implication of this study . . . is that revision cannot be separated from other aspects of composing. Revision studies have not determined what causes writers to revise. 259 Flower, Linda S., John R. Hayes, Linda Carey, Karen Schriver, and James Stratman.
Successful writers revise in order to adapt the text to their goals.
Revision requires knowledge about texts, knowledge about strategies for revising, and a clear intention to use this knowledge to achieve a goal. Detecting problems calls for a review of the text, testing it against an imagined ideal text that fulfills the writer's intentions. Many beginning writers see not the actual text but the intended text when they read their own drafts, and many do not form a clear sense of the gist of their own writing. These problems are often compounded by too narrow an intention or the lack of a clear sense of intention. Intention reflects knowledge, so beginning writers may focus on proofreading, which they know to be a feature of finished writing.