Revising and Editing Your Essay

 When it comes to revising and editing your essay, it is best to work from your first draft so you are positively satisfied with what you said and how you said it.

You can do this by reading aloud and pretending you are the audience. Pay attention, as if you are reading the essay for the first time.You should be able to notice mistakes, trouble with flow, or structural disagreements.As you read, ask yourself: Are all the parts working effectively to bring home the thesis?Will this persuade the reader that my opinion is based on common sense and logic?

Make any improvements or changes that you discover are needed, such as re-wording, developing better explanations, using more appropriate vocabulary, and clarifying your viewpoints.

Write a second draft, focusing your revision/editing attention on the individual paragraphs. Every paragraph in your essay performs a specific function; examine whether they follow the rules and accomplish what you intended. You can refer to the checklists below.

Finally, in your third and last draft, pay particular attention to sentences, individual phrases, and individual words. See if they are complete in thought and if they communicate concisely.When you are satisfied that you have exhausted the revision and editing process, it is time for your final read-through using checklists.

Using Checklists

Checklists are an important tool in writing and form an essential part of quality control.For your final read-through, use the two checklists below, one at a time as separate activities to avoid confusion. Check whether you have missed anything. Focus on the revising checklist first as you read your entire essay once. Then finish up while referring to the editing checklist on your last read through.

√     Do your sentences communicate exactly what you intended?

√     Does every word in your writing count?

√     Did you discard excess baggage words?

√     Do your support sentences communicate clearly and concisely, without introducing confusion?

√     Are your sentences varied and interestingly structured?

√     Do all your sentences flow smoothly?

√     Does your main idea come across with all subsequent sentences making complete sense?

√     Did you use transitions to connect your ideas?

Checklist for Editing Essays

√    Examine your sentence structure. Does the sentence make sense?  Is it easy to read?

√     Is the grammar correct? Are there any spelling errors?

√     Are capital letters used in the right place?

√     Is the punctuation appropriate?

√     Are you repeating yourself? Have you used the same words and phrases?

√    Overall, do the sentences flow smoothly, or are they choppy, too short or too long?

Summary

It is very important that you allow time for revising and editing, otherwise, your paper will not really be complete or polished.It could take several drafts to actually get to that point.

You may think while writing that all is well and you do not need to revise or edit. However, you will find all kinds of errors, awkward wordings, repetitions or redundant expressions that will not be noticed until you revise and edit.It doesn’t mean that you are not a good writer--even John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles revised and edited their songs!

If you are writing an in-class essay or final exam essay within an assigned time limit, you may think you do not have time to get in all the revising and editing steps.However, if you practice well beforehand, your overall speed will increase so you will have extra time left to revise and edit. . You may be surprised at what you can accomplish.