Editing your first draft can be one of the more difficult steps in the writing process. It is easy to miss confusing structure, unclear wording, punctuation errors, wordiness, and dropped words. You can miss these errors because, at this point in the process, you have been looking at and rereading your paper for an extended period of time. It can be hard to step back and look at the paper “with fresh eyes” to see what you’ve actually written on the page. Having a process to streamline your review will help ensure you’ve covered important areas of revision, such as organization and structure, and editing, including sentence-level areas like grammar and clarity. By following a process, you can make sure you have reviewed all elements throughout your paper. 

Step 1: Revision

The first thing you want to do, before you begin your review, is step away from the computer. Give your eyes and mind a break so you can revisit it fresh and read what’s on the page, not what you wanted to put on it. After a couple of hours’ break, you should begin the first step of your review by focusing on the overall revision of the paper. The revision includes a review of your paper’s organization, paragraph structure, and formatting. This can be done easily by creating a reverse outline of your paper. Reverse outlining will allow you to see the ideas presented in each paragraph and whether each one presents the ideas, arguments, or information you want it to. Start your reverse outline by making sure your introduction contains an introduction to the topic, background information about the topic, and your thesis. Next, write down the main idea for each body paragraph, then the supporting ideas for each of the main ideas paragraphs. Once you have those down, go back and review the outline to be sure each paragraph is accomplishing its purpose. Does your introduction introduce the topic and thesis of your paper? Do your body paragraphs support your thesis statement or expand on ideas in the previous paragraph? Do the paragraphs flow together to present the information logically? Finally, write out the main idea and supporting details of your conclusion. Avoid presenting new claims or information in the conclusion that would be better put in the body paragraphs. 

Step 2: Editing 

The next step in the review is editing. Editing your paper covers sentence-level reviews of areas including grammar, clarity, punctuation, word choice, and wordiness. One of the best ways to do this is to read your paper out loud. Doing this will allow you to hear the tone of your work and identify informal writing, such as wordiness and figurative language. This is because you are forcing yourself to read what you have written on the page, rather than filling in what you want the paper to say in your head. If you read a sentence and find yourself out of breath or losing the point, you will want to pause and ask yourself if there is a way to write that sentence using fewer words. You will also be able to hear the switch from the third-person point of view (formal writing) to the second or first person point of view (informal writing) when you hear yourself use figurative language, like idioms or personification. 

Read the following sentences out loud and see if you can hear the mistakes: 

One of the students are crying. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

This essay will talk about different views on capital punishment. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

They had an argument at the house of their neighbor. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

Did you catch all of them? The three sentences illustrate common mistakes in students’ writing: incorrect subject-verb agreement, announcement as a thesis, and wordiness. When you read “One of the students are crying,” you should have heard something that sounded off. That is the incorrect subject-verb agreement you are hearing. While it is easy to assume “students” is the subject, “One” is actually the subject of this sentence, and so the verb should be the singular “is.”

The second sentence is a common mistake seen in thesis statements. Reading it out loud, it might sound as if you are giving a speech to an auditorium of your peers or announcing the topics of your presentation. Language directed at the reader creates a second-person, conversational tone that sounds as if you are making an announcement instead of a claim about your topic. To avoid this, make sure that your thesis is making a claim, point, observation, etc. in your own words about the topic. This helps your readers understand, for example, your overall conclusion based on your research of the topic, or your main argument in a persuasive essay. 

The last sentence is an example of wordiness. As you read out loud, ask yourself if you can make the point using fewer words. Look for words or phrases that can be removed without losing the meaning of your sentence. If you can remove an introductory or prepositional phrase and still have a complete sentence that makes sense, that phrase is not needed. Formal writing should generally be clear and concise.. Checking for wordiness will also help you identify unclear or unconnected ideas in your paragraphs. Read the corrected sentences below out loud to hear the differences: 

One of the students is crying. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

Capital punishment is unjust because it fails to deter crime. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

They argued at their neighbor’s house. (Purdue University Global Writing Center, n.d.)

Following a detailed review process that covers the revision of the overall elements and editing of sentence-level elements will provide a reliable and reusable review that will help build your confidence in your writing. First, complete the revision of the overall elements, including format, structure, and transitions. This will let you know whether any major changes are needed first. Next, edit the sentence-level elements, including clarity, punctuation, and wordiness. Read your work out loud and do a line-by-line edit, looking and listening for things like informal language, dropped words, and punctuation mistakes. Using a review process that covers revision and editing will help you craft engaging essays that will effectively communicate your message across. Visit the Writing Center’s Writing Process resource page for more information, examples, and practice reviewing and editing your work. And remember, practice makes perfect! 

References 

Purdue University Global Writing Center. (n.d.) Writing process: Editing and revising.