Editing and Revising Lesson #12

Getting Response Sometimes the most helpful eyes belong to others: readers you trust, including trained writing- center tutors. They can often point out problems (and strengths) that you simply cannot see in your work. Caution: if a reader says nothing about any of these elements, don’t be too quick to assume that you needn’t think about them your self. What did you think when you first saw the TITLE? Is it interesting? Informative? Appropriate? Will it attract other readers’ attention? Does the BEGINNING grab readers’ attention? If so, how does it do so? Does it give enough information about the topic? Offer necessary background information? How else might the piece begin? Is there a clear THESIS? What is it?

Getting Response Is there sufficient SUPPORT for the thesis? Is there anywhere you’d like to have more detail? Is the supporting material sufficiently DOCUMENTED? Does the text have a clear pattern of organization? Does each part relate to the thesis? Does each part follow from the one preceding it? Was the text easy to follow? How might the organization be improved? Is the ENDING satisfying? What did it leave you thinking? How else might it end? What is the writer’s STANCE? Can you tell the writer’s attitude toward the subject and audience? What words convey that attitude? Is it consistent throughout? Does it achieve its PURPOSE? Does every part of the text help achieve purpose? Could anything be cut? Should anything be added?

Revising Give yourself time to revise. Revise to sharpen your focus. Don’t waste energy struggling with writing that simply doesn’t work; you can always discard it. Look for the parts of your draft that do work- the parts that match your PURPOSE and say what you want to say. Revise to sharpen your focus. Examine your THESIS to make sure it matches your PURPOSE as you now understand it. Read each paragraph to ensure that it contributes to your main point; you may find it helpful to OUTLINE your draft to help you see all the parts. Read your BEGINNING and ENDING carefully; make sure that the first paragraphs introduce your topic and provide any needed contextual information and that the final paragraphs provide a satisfying conclusion.

Revising Revise to strengthen the argument. If readers find some of your claims unconvincing, you need to provide more information or more support. Revise to improve the organization. If you have outlined your draft, number each paragraph, and make sure each one follows from the one before. Check to see if you have included appropriate TRANSITIONS to help readers move through the text, and add them as needed. Revise for clarity. Be sure readers understand what you are saying.

Revising Read and reread- and reread.

Editing Editing is a stage when you work on the details of your paragraphs, sentences, words, and punctuation to make your writing as clear, precise, correct- and effective- as possible. Your goal is not to achieve “perfection”, but to make your writing as effective as possible.

Editing Paragraphs Does each paragraph focus on one point? Does it have a TOPIC SENTENCE, that announces the point, and if so, where is it located? If it’s not the first sentence, should it be? If there’s not clear topic sentence, should there be one? Does every sentence in the paragraph relate to the main point of that paragraph? If any sentences do not, consider whether they should be deleted, moved, or revised. Is there enough detail to develop the paragraph’s main point? Check the way your paragraphs fit together. Does each one follow smoothly from the one before? Do you need to add any TRANSITIONS or other links?

Editing Sentences Is each sentence COMPLETE? Does the sentence begin with a capital letter and end with a period, question mark, or exclamation point? Do many of your sentences begin with IT or THERE? Sometimes these words help introduce a topic, but often they make your text too vague or even conceal needed information. Are your sentences varied? Make sure you have used COMMAS correctly.

Editing Words Are you sure the meaning of every word? Is any of your language to GENERAL or vague? Do all your pronouns have clear ANTECEDENTS? If you write “he” or “they” or “it” or “these”, will the reader know whom or what the words refer to?

Proofreading Proofreading is the final stage of the writing process, the point where you clean up your work to present it to your readers. Use your computer’s grammar checker and spelling checker (only after you have done so on you own- they are not completely reliable) Read the paper out loud to yourself