Revising and Editing

Revising & Editing Process

Revision

The revision process is an essential aspect of writing and one that you should build in time for before submitting your written work.

Revision means to "re-see" the piece of writing.

It isn't just proofreading your paper or correcting grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. Revision is stepping back and looking at your paper as a whole and seeing if you are effectively saying what you intend to say. It is giving your paper a thorough look to see how you can make it stronger. Your goal should always be to write clearly, concisely, and in an engaging way.

One way to go about re-seeing your writing is to do it in three stages. Many people skip the first stage, but looking at the big picture is crucial in making sure you have a well-developed essay that expresses your ideas.

Source: Excelsior Online Writing Lab, https://owl.excelsior.edu/writing-process/revising-and-editing/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Revising Stage 1: Seeing the Big Picture

When you first begin your revision process, you should focus on the big picture or issues at the essay level that might need to be addressed. The following questions will guide you:

• 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 illustrate the main ideas of your paper?
• Does your introduction grab the reader's interest?
• Does your conclusion leave the reader understanding your point of view?
• Are you saying in your essay what you want to say?
• What is the strength of your paper? What is its weakness?

Revising Stage 2: Mid-View

The second stage of the revision process requires that you look at your content closely and 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, vivid description, or examples that illustrate the point you are making in the paragraph?
• 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 don't add to the points you are making or may confuse the reader?
• Are the paragraphs in the right order?
• Are your paragraphs overly long? Does each paragraph explore one main idea?
• Do you use clear transitions so the reader can follow your thinking?
• Are any paragraphs or parts of paragraphs redundant and need to be deleted?

Revising Stage 3: 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, i.e. have you been consistent in your use of tense, do your pronouns agree?
• 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?
• Are your words as accurate as possible?
• Do you define any technical or unusual terms you use?
• Are there extra words or clichés 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're writing an academic essay, have you tried to be objective in your evidence and tone?
• If writing a personal essay, is the narrative voice lively and interesting?
• Have you spellchecked your paper?
• If you used sources, have you consistently documented all of the sources' ideas and information using a standard documentation style?

Revising & Editing Tips

Revision Tips

One great way to help you with revision is to try something called the post-draft outline. Here's how it works: Outline your paper, jotting down your thesis statement and the topic sentences in each of your paragraphs. See if this skeleton of your paper reveals a clear, logical flow of ideas and organization. If not, you know you need to make some changes. Having this visual representation of what you have actually written in your essay is a great help when you are trying to revise effectively.

Editing Tips

It's important to remember that a good editing process takes time. You can't edit well in one big editing pass. You should be prepared to spend the time it will take to edit in several passes and use strategies that will you slow yourself down and edit thoroughly.

Read your paper aloud.

Reading aloud gives you the opportunity to both see and hear what you have written - and it slows your eyes down so you're more likely to catch errors and see what you have actually written, not what you think you wrote. It's also helpful to have someone else read your paper aloud so you can listen to how well it flows.

Read your paper backwards.

Start with the last sentence. Read it first. Then, read the second-to-the-last sentence. Continue this process for your whole essay. This strategy really slows you down and helps you see each sentence on its own, which is key to effective editing.

Review the Grammar Essentials Area

Review the Grammar Essentials area for known struggles you have with grammar, punctuation, and other errors. Then, with that information fresh in your mind, edit your paper just looking for those known issues. For example, if you know you have struggles with commas, review the information on commas in the Excelsior OWL, and, then, immediately edit your essay with special attention to commas. With the rules fresh in your mind, you're more likely to catch any errors.

A Tip for Both Revising and Editing

Finally, a good tip for both revision and editing is to use the resources available to you for feedback and help. If you're on a campus with a writing center, take advantage of it. If your online college offers an online writing tutorial service, submit your essay to that service for feedback. And, take advantage of in-class peer reviews. Your peers understand the writing assignment you're working on and can provide helpful reader feedback.

Seek help when you need it, and ask questions of your professor. A good revision and editing process involves using all of the resources available to you.

Peer Review

Whether you're in an online class or a face-to-face class, peer review is an important part of the revision process and is often a required component in a writing class. In the following video, you'll see students engage in a particular type of peer review called CARES.

After watching the video, click the image below to download a copy of the CARES feedback form. If you aren't using this structure for your peer review in your class, you'll likely be using something similar. The important thing to remember is that feedback from your peers can definitely help make your writing better.

Visiting Your Writing Center

Whether you're a student on a campus or an online student, chances are you'll have access to a writing center to help support you through your writing process. Writing center consultants can help you with every stage of the writing process, from understanding your assignment to helping you with strategies for revision and editing.

While it's important to note that writing centers won't "edit" or "fix" your paper, they will help you improve as a writer through instruction in person or feedback on your paper online. Writing centers can help you at any stage in the writing process–from getting started with an outline to revising your draft.

Feedback is critical to growing as a writer, and writing centers are here to help with that!

If you're an online student, even though you can't visit a campus writing center in person, you'll likely have access to an online writing center with consultants who can offer you the same kind of help with your writing. At Excelsior University, for example, students have access to TutorMe's Writing Lab. TutorMe provides tutors who will review your essays and provide feedback on them synchronously or asynchronously. Tutors can help you develop a thesis, cite your sources, improve your sentence structure, and more. Other online colleges provide in-house online tutoring, so check with your professor if you're not sure what your tutoring options are.

No matter how you access your writing center, it's important to remember that the feedback you receive can help you improve your essay and grow as a writer!

See It in Practice

In this video cast, you'll see how our student addresses her revision and editing process using specific feedback on her essay from her professor. You'll be able to see how she uses the feedback to make her essay stronger and what revision looks like in comparison to editing.

Time to Write

As the final step in your writing process, you're ready to complete revision and editing for your essay. Remember, you should complete your revision first, using any feedback from your professor, peers, and writing center consultants. Once you have your content revised, you're ready for editing. Don't forget that effective editing takes some time - and many passes at your text.

For additional information on what revision and editing can look like as a part of your writing process, be sure to watch these revising and editing videos from the Research learning area. You'll get to see what content revision looks like in practice and learn about how you have to be careful of grammar checkers, such as the grammar checker in your word processing program. Even the helpful resource Grammarly should be questioned. If you have any doubts or questions about information you get from an online grammar checker, be sure to check with your professor.