Revision and Editing

Revising and editing are the two tasks you undertake to significantly improve your writing Both are very important elements of the writing process. You may think that a completed first draft means little improvement is needed. However, even experienced writers need to improve their drafts and rely on peers during revising and editing. You may know that athletes miss catches, fumble balls, or overshoot goals. Dancers forget steps, turn too slowly, or miss beats. For both athletes and dancers, the more they practice, the stronger their performance will become. Web designers seek better images, a more clever design, or a more appealing background for their web pages. Writing has the same capacity to profit from improvement and revision.

Revising Stage 1

When you first begin revising, you should focus on the big picture. The following questions can help guide you with this:

• Do you have a clear thesis? Do you know what idea or perspective you want your reader to understand upon reading your essay?
• Is your essay well organized?
• Is each paragraph a building block in your essay: does each explain or support your thesis?
• Does it need a different shape? Do parts need to be moved?
• Do you fully explain and support the main ideas of your paper?
• Does your introduction provide background information that grabs the reader’s interest?
• Does your conclusion summarize the key arguments and perspectives used in the paper?
• Are you saying in your essay what you want to say – maintaining your own “voice”?
• What is the strength of your paper? What is the weakness?

Revising Stage 2

The second stage of revising requires that you look at your content closely at the paragraph level. It’s now time to examine each paragraph, on its own, to see where you might need to revise. The following questions will guide you through the mid-view revision stage:

• Does each paragraph contain solid, specific information, or examples that support the point you are making?
• Are there are other facts, quotations, examples, or descriptions to add that can more clearly illustrate or provide evidence for the points you are making?
• Are there sentences, words, descriptions or information that you can delete because they do not add to the points you are making or may confuse the reader?
• Are the paragraphs in the right order – do they align with your essay outline sentence in the introduction?
• Are your paragraphs overly long? Does each paragraph explore one main idea?
• Do you use clear transitions / signposting so the reader can follow your thinking?
• Are any paragraphs or parts of paragraphs repetitive and need to be deleted?
• Have you elaborated, explained, evaluated, and given examples that demonstrate your sound and valid reasoning

If you are working on a writing assignment in a group and each member is contributing a portion of the text, it is especially important that you revise the text for repeated information, especially general information that each group member might be using to provide context for their contribution. Also make sure that all information is contextualized for the reader. Sometimes a group member may give information thinking that another group member has provided context earlier in the text when they have not. Your audience should not be able to tell that multiple people contributed sections to the document. In the revision stage, each group member should read the entire text and make suggestions. It might also help to make an appointment with a tutor at the SDSU Writing Center.

Editing Up Close

Once you have completed your revision and feel confident in your content, it’s time to begin the editing stage of your revision and editing process. The following questions will guide you through your editing:

• Are there any grammar errors, that is, have you been consistent in your use of tense, do your pronouns agree? Have you eliminated first-person pronouns?
• Have you accurately and effectively used punctuation?
• Do you rely on strong verbs and nouns and maintain a good balance with adjectives and adverbs, using them to enhance descriptions but ensuring clear sentences?
• Have you avoided emotive language and hyperbole?
• Are your words as accurate as possible, for the sake of clarity?
• Do you define any technical or unusual terms you use?
• Are there extra words, clichés or colloquial terms in your sentences that you can delete?
• Do you vary your sentence structure?
• Have you accurately presented facts; have you copied quotations precisely?
• If you are writing an academic essay, have you tried to be objective in your evidence and maintained academic tone?
• If writing a personal essay, is the narrative voice lively and interesting?
• Have you spellchecked your paper? Have you proofread your paper – spellcheck does not address every error or incorrect word use?
• If you used sources, have you consistently documented all of the sources’ ideas and information using a standard citation and referencing style?

If you are writing a text in a group, you will want to make sure that your text has a unified voice and writing style. Your audience should not be able to tell that multiple people contributed to the text.