rwinteractive

Revising Paragraphs and Essays

When you finish a draft, you probably wish that you were at the end: You don’t want to have to look at it again. But a draft is just the first whole version, a rough cut; it is not the best you can do to represent yourself and your ideas. After taking a break, you need to look at the draft with fresh eyes to revise and edit it.

Revising is making your ideas clearer, stronger, and more convincing. When revising, you are evaluating how well you have made your point.

Editing is finding and correcting problems with grammar, word usage, punctuation, and capitalization. When editing, you are evaluating the words, phrases, and sentences you have used.

Most writers find it difficult to revise and edit well if they try to do both at once. It is easier to solve idea-level problems first (by revising) and then to correct smaller, word-level ones (by editing).

TIPS FOR REVISING YOUR WRITING

Wait a few hours or, if possible, a couple of days before starting to revise.
Read your draft aloud, and listen for places where the writing seems weak or unclear.
Read critically and ask yourself questions, as if you were reading through someone else’s eyes. (For more on reading critically, see Chapter 1.)
Write notes about changes to make. For small things, like adding a transition (see “Revise for Coherence”), you can make the change on the draft. For other things, like adding or getting rid of an idea or reordering your support points, make a note in the margin.
Get help from a tutor at the writing center, or get feedback from a friend (see “Peer Reviewing” for information on peer review).

Even the best writers do not get everything right the first time. So, if you finish reading your draft and have not found anything that could be better, either you are not reading carefully enough or you are not asking the right questions. Use the following checklist to help you make your writing better.