Approach comments from peer reviewers or from your instructor in several stages. First, read straight through the comments. Take a few minutes to digest the feedback and get some distance from your work.

Then make a revision plan—as elaborate or as simple as you want—that prioritizes the changes needed in your next draft. If you have comments from more than one reviewer, you may want to begin by making two lists: (1) areas in which reviewers agree on needed changes, and (2) areas in which they disagree. You will then have to make choices about which advice to heed and which to ignore from both lists. Next, rank the suggestions you’ve chosen to address. Focus on comments about big-picture issues: your purpose and stance; your audience; your thesis and support; your organization; your title, introduction, and conclusion; your paragraph development; and your design, for example.

Using your previous draft as a starting point (but renaming it to indicate that it is a revision), make the changes you identified in your revision plan. Be prepared to revise heavily, if necessary; if comments suggest that your thesis isn’t working, for example, you may need to change the topic or the entire direction of your text. Heavy revision is not a sign that there’s something wrong with your writing; on the contrary, major revision is a common feature of serious, goal-oriented writing.

Once you are satisfied that your revisions adequately address major issues, make corrections to sentences, words, punctuation, formatting, and other lower-level concerns.

Storyboards on revising and editing

Video Prompt: Revision happens