REVISING, EDITING, AND PROOFREADING STAGE

When you finish the first draft, you might be tired or you might be excited that you got it done within the time limit, but those are not good reasons to say you are finished. Don’t just get up and leave, even if other students have done so. Remember, successful students use all the time available. You must read through your essay two to three times to revise and edit.

The first time you read through your essay, look for big things: Did you break the paragraphs in good places? Did you use good supporting points or examples? Did you explain the support clearly? Are there places where you should add transitions? Do you have a strong introduction and conclusion? Make any necessary changes by neatly inserting them with a caret (^).

Then read through your essay again, keeping in mind the grammar errors you tend to make. (Hopefully, you have reviewed your Grammar Log as part of your studying.) This time, focus on grammar and style rather than on content. Make sure each sentence is super-clear. Remember, your instructor is looking for overall clarity and grammatical correctness. Fix all the errors you find, but don’t recopy your exam. That’s a huge waste of time.

Think you’re finished? Not yet. Look back at the exam question. Read it carefully to make sure you didn’t misunderstand anything. Then reread your essay again, trying to catch every little error and making sure you included everything that was expected, such as a title and quotation marks.

If you have time left, keep rereading your essay until the exam period is finished. Think back to all the editing techniques you used previously and put them into action.

Done? Hooray! One down, dozens more to go. Taking essay exams will just keep getting easier as you continue to practice these steps.