1. Revising & Editing

2. Evaluate Your Draft Does your paper/project meet the assignment?
Look your assignment, search for key words like analyze, evaluate, propose. Does your paper do what the assignment asks for?
If not how can you change it?
Look the assignment for specific guidelines.

3. Do you have a clear focus?
Underline your thesis statement.
Think of ways you might make your thesis stronger and/or more precise.
Underline the main idea in each paragraph.
Check how each paragraph connects to your thesis.
Think about how you can strengthen your connections.

4. Are your main points adequately developed?
Put brackets around the reasons and evidence that support your main points.
Can you find places to add more examples and details that would further explain your main points?

5. Is your organization effective?
Make a quick outline of your paper.
Mark the places where you find abrupt shifts or gaps.
Think about how you might rearrange sections or paragraphs to make your work more effective.

6. Do you consider your potential readers’ knowledge & POV?
Where do you give background information if your readers are unfamiliar with your subject?
Where do you acknowledge any opposing views your readers might have?

7. Do you represent yourself effectively?
To the extent you can, forget for a moment that you wrote what you are reading.
What impression do you have of the writer?
Does the writer have an appropriate tone?
Is the writer visually effective?
Is the work easy to read?

8. Goals
Now that you have reviewed your first piece, what are 2-3 goals that you can set for this paper? Think about improvements – what would take your work to the next level – and there is always a next level. 

9. Strategies for Rewriting
Now it is time to look at your work in deep detail. You should work on the goals you identify in your review.
Also, look for other opportunities for improvement using a checklist.
Page 59

10. #1 - Audience
Keep your audience in mind – reread each of your paragraphs’ opening sentences and ask yourself whether they are engaging enough to keep your readers interested.

11. #2 - Focus
Sharpen your focus wherever possible – you may have started out with a large topic but most of what you wrote concerns only one aspect. You may need to revise your thesis and supporting paragraphs.

12. #3 – Key Terms
Check if key terms are adequately defined – what are your key terms? Are they defined precisely enough to be meaningful?

13. #4 – Idea Development
Develop your ideas where necessary – key points and claims may need more explanation and supporting evidence. Look for opportunities to add support without becoming redundant.

14. #5 – Linkage
Check your links and transitions between paragraphs and ideas. Look for any places that make abrupt shifts and make the transitions better.
Check if you signal the relationship from one paragraph to the next.

15. #6 – Consider your Title
Many writer’s don’t think much about titles, but they are very important.
A good title makes the reader want to see what you have to say.
Be as specific as you can in your title, and if possible, suggest your stance.

16. #7 – Your Intro
Consider your introduction – in the intro you want to get off to a fast start.
You want to convince your reader to keep reading.
Cut to the chase – get to the heart of the matter.

17. #8 – Your Conclusion
Restating your thesis isn’t the best way to finish – but it’s part of the best way to finish – say it in a new way.
Conclusions that offer only summary bore readers.
The word endings say something like “in my paper I’ve said this…”
Effective conclusions are interesting and provocative, leaving reader with something to think about
Don’t use clichéd terms and phrases – “Finally,” “In Conclusion,” “To sum it all up..”

18. #9 – Think Visually Does that font match – size? TNR?
Would headings and subheadings be useful & effective?
If you included statistical data would a chart be more effective?
Would illustrations help to establish key points?

19. In Responding to Others
You need to be a reliable and responsible individual when you are looking at anyone’s work. Don’t be a turd in the punchbowl.
Responding to other people requires the same careful attention that you give to your own work.
It’s a give and take – a reciprocal relationship.

20. First Reading
your normal rate without stopping. When you finish you should have a clear sense of what the writer is trying to accomplish.
Main Idea: Write a sentence that summarizes what you think the writer’s main idea is in their work.
Purpose: Write a sentence that summarizes what you think the writer was attempting to accomplish.

21. Second Reading
In your second reading, you should be most concerned with content, organization, and completeness. Make notes as you read.
Intro: does the writer’s 1st paragraph effectively intro the topic and engage your interest?
Thesis: Where is the thesis? Note in the margin where you think it is.
Focus: Does the writer maintain focus on the thesis? Note any places where the writer wanders off into the abyss.
Organization: Are the ideas presented in effective order? Can you suggest a better order for the paragraphs?
Completeness: Are there sections that lack development?
Sources: Are citations accurate? Are quotations seamlessly woven into the writer’s work?

22. Third Reading
In your 3rd reading, turn your attention to matters of audience, style and tone.
Audience: Who is the writer’s intended audience? What does the writer assume the audience knows and believes?
Style: Is the writer’s style engaging? How would you describe the writer’s voice?
Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the writer’s purpose and audience? Is it consistent throughout the draft? Are there places where another word or phrase might work better? Is it too casual? Is it too formal?

23. At the end of the 3rd Reading
You should write a minimum of 2-3 sentences for each of the points covered – Audience, Style, Tone.
Refer to specific paragraphs by number.
Then end by answering two questions:
What does the writer do especially well in the piece?
What one or two things would most improve the work in a revision process?

24. Pay Attention to Details Last
When you finish revising you are ready for one final careful reading, keeping the goals of improving your style and eliminating errors in mind.

25. Details Last (page 61) Check the connections between sentences.
Check your sentences themselves.
Eliminate wordiness.
Use active verbs – speak/stay in the present tense.
Know what your spell checker can and can’t do
Check for grammar and punctuation.

26. Your Teacher’s Comments
Sometimes it can be discouraging to get your paper back with numerous comments.
However, revising with your instructor’s comments is the best way to learn how to become a better writer.

27. Keep these ideas in mind…
Think of your instructor as a coach whose goal is to make you the best writer you can be. When your coach tells you that your writing can improve, it’s not the same thing as telling you that you are a bad writer. Don’t take advice too personally.

28. Keep these ideas in mind…
Read the comments carefully. Often what your instructor is asking you to do is not difficult.
Talk with your instructor if you don’t understand a comment. Your instructor can explain the comment, and both you and your instructor will benefit from the conversation.

29. Global & Local Comments
It’s important to identify your instructor’s local and global comments as soon as you get your paper back.
Start with global comments – big ideas in the margins like:
“I can’t follow your logic here.”
“This section appears out of place.”
Or they may be a final comment – “Your organization would be more effective if you presented other proposed solutions first and held your solution until the end.”
Address these big issues first.

30. Global & Local Comments
Local comments may be circled or underlined works and punctuation and short comments.
Understand that your instructor is not editing the paper for you and will not mark every error.
Your instructor wants you to recognize categories of errors; for example:
Issues with commas
Issues with MLA format
Most likely if you have one problem with commas/MLA then you have others.

31. Don’t Limit Yourself
Don’t limit your revisions to addressing just your instructor’s comments.
Many times revising a paper will bring about new ideas.
Realize too that it’s your responsibility to make sure that your paper is error-free when you submit a final draft.

32. Looking at an old work…
Page 62 – Find a paper that you wrote from another course or from last year.
Number the paragraphs in the paper. On a separate sheet of paper, write the main point of the first paragraph.
Then, writer the main point of the second paragraph.
Go through the entire paper this way. When you are finished you will have a reverse outline, an outline done after completing the paper.
Look at the outline. Does the outline fulfill what you promise in the introduction? Can any ideas be deleted without losing content? Can any ideas be moved? Can you revise the outline to better organize your paper?