Introduction to Revising and Editing
Writing is a process. It often takes several drafts to get your ideas and words flow smoothly. With almost any piece of writing, revising and editing will be necessary. Typically, you’ll revise first, looking at the larger concepts of your work, the ideas, content, and organization. It is during the editing phase where you’ll inspect the finer details of your writing such as grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and word choice. It is always better if you can take a break from your draft, even a small one, so that when you are revising and editing it you read it with a freshness that might have been lost while you were writing it.
Revising
- Review your first draft, keeping in mind the purpose of the assignment, your topic, content, goal, and your audience. Read what you have aloud.
- Add, cut, rework, or rearrange ideas as necessary so that your writing is focused, organized, all irrelevant or unimportant information is removed, or gaps are filled.
- Ask yourself questions about your writing: is all the needed information there? Have you arranged the information in the best order so it makes sense to your reader? Is your main idea clear?
- Also have someone review your work
Editing and Proofreading
- Read your final draft aloud to test it for sense and sound.
- Check for errors in usage, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar.
- Prepare a neat final copy of your writing.
- Then proofread the final draft for errors before submitting it.
Here are some common areas to check when you are editing and proofreading:
Sentence Structure |
- Sentences are correct and complete.
- Vary sentence lengths and beginnings (i.e. sentences don’t always begin with I or The, or Then, etc.).
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Word Choice |
Replace overused words and phrases with descriptive and specific options. |
Spelling |
Sometime reading your work backwards helps you to focus on each word individually, and catch spelling mistakes. |
Mechanics |
Punctuation, commas, apostrophes, quoted dialogue, capitalization. |
Grammar |
- Commonly mixed up words such as to, too, and two; their, they’re and there.
- Subject/Verb agreement: a singular subject is matched with a singular verb and plural subjects are matched with plural verbs. Example:
Singular - The girl is busy.
The subject girl agrees with the verb is.
Plural – They are meeting tomorrow.
The subject they agrees with the verb are.
- Pronoun/antecedent agreement: a pronoun must agree in number, singular or plural ,with their antecedent, the thing to which they refer. Example:
Singular- My dog sleeps in his bed.
The pronoun his agrees with dog.
Plural – My cats play with their toys.
The pronoun their agree with cats. |
Common problems to watch for while you revise and edit:
- Lack of Content: is your work really saying something or just filling space?
Lack of Focus: this can happen if you write on too many subjects or write unevenly on your subjects, saying a lot about one and very little on the others.
Passive Express: Don’t be afraid to place yourself in the action (when appropriate) by using the direct, active sentences instead of the passive voice.
Example: The room was only sat in on cold, rainy days. (passive) /
I only sat in the room on cold, rainy days. (active)
Overworked Expressions: This happens when you try to pack too many ideas into one sentence. Try varying your sentence lengths.
- Other things to watch for: Poor logic, inaccuracies, inconsistent voice or tense, disorganization, and incoherent ideas. [24]