“Quick-Fix Workshop” Communications Centre

It isn’t over yet… Don’t finish when you finish your first copy. Editing is hard work because it demands a committed and meticulous attitude. Good, thorough editing should take as long as it took you to write your first draft. Eeeks.

Make Life Easier: Resist the Evils of Procrastination Learn that Writing is a Process and give yourself enough time to complete the entire writing and editing process.

The Writing Process 1.Planning/ Gathering Information 2.Shaping/Outlining: organizing your ideas and, using point form, constructing the framework of your paper. 3.Drafting: writing your ideas in sentences and paragraphs. 4.Revising/Getting Feedback: evaluating your draft, and adding, cutting, replacing, and moving material. 5.Editing 6.Proofreading: checking your final draft for typos.

When is it time to Edit? After you are confident that the content and organization of your paper are set, begin editing.

Editing Means: Finding and fixing errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitals, numbers, italics, and abbreviations.

What do I Need? A Writing Handbook An Editing Checklist Time and Patience *You may also want to enlist another pair of eyes to look at your work. Make sure this other pair of eyes uses the checklist and handbook.

Writing Handbooks Process and Practice by Ronald Conrad

Writing Handbooks Checkmate or Fit to Print by Joanne Buckley

Writing Handbooks Quick Access by Lynn Quitman Troyka

The Editing Checklist Focus Your Attention on the following questions. This checklist is taken from the Owl On-Line Writing Centre at:

1. Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments Check each sentence to make sure it has a subject, a verb, and complete thought. Have you run two sentences together incorrectly without a period, conjunction or semicolon separating them?

2. Punctuation Have you ended every sentence with a period, question mark, or exclamation point? Are your thoughts within sentences broken up correctly by commas for easier understanding? Have you broken up series with commas? Have you used a period after abbreviations?

3. Quotation Marks Did you remember to place exact quotes within quotation marks? Did you place all periods and commas inside the quotation marks while placing semicolons and colons outside them?

4. Subject-Verb Agreements Check every subject and verb to make sure that if you have used a singular subject, you have also used a singular verb. Similarly, a plural subject needs a plural verb.

5. Sentence Length Compute the average number of words per sentence. How close is that number compared to the average of 22? Have you varied the length of sentences in each paragraph? If your sentences are too long, break them into shorter units. Sentences that are very short tend to produce a jerky style of writing. Does each sentence follow clearly and logically from the one before it? Have you used some type of transitional device between each sentence?

6. Apostrophes Have you used them correctly to indicate possession? If you're unsure, check a grammar book.

7. Tenses Have you incorrectly jumped about in different tenses? Have you used the correct form of the verb to express the tense you want?

8. Capitalization Have you capitalized names of persons, cities, countries, streets, and titles? Have you capitalized a quotation according to the original and according to the needs of your sentence?

9. Spelling Check any word you have doubts about. If you are unsure of the spelling of a certain word, look it up. Be especially careful of the words listed as spelling nightmares: "ei" and "ie" words, words which add "-ing" and "ed," and words with one or more sets of double letters.

10. Paragraphing Does each paragraph have a topic sentence which states the main idea? Have you used examples and vivid specific details to describe your topic? Have you used explanatory sentences to give your opinion or judgment on the topic? Have you included sentences which pertain only to that idea? Are transitions used between sentences and paragraphs? Is there a concluding sentence?

11. Omissions Have you left out any words in your sentences?