Step Three: Rewriting and Revising

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Write, Revise, Repeat
Good writers spend more time editing and revising their written work than they spend writing the original version. Never turn in your first draft; spend the necessary time to reread and improve your work.
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Next comes the stage at which you take a good piece of writing and do your best to make it great. The essence of good writing is rewriting. You read. You correct. You add smoother transitions. You slash through wordy sentences and paragraphs, removing anything that is repetitive or adds nothing of value to your paper. You substitute stronger words for weaker ones. You double-check spelling and grammar. It also might help to share your paper with one or more of your classmates to get their feedback. You should also check to see if your college provides any writing or editing assistance. Many schools offer a writing center for their students where students can get help during any stage of the writing process: brainstorming, creating a thesis, narrowing a topic, outlining, or polishing that draft. Once you have talked with your reviewers about their suggested changes, you can either accept or reject them. At this point, you are ready to finalize your writing and “publish” (turn in) your paper.

The Importance of Time in the Writing Process. Many students turn in poorly written papers because they skip the first step (freewriting/prewriting/rehearsing) and last step (rewriting/revision) and make do with the middle one (writing/drafting). The result is often a poorly written assignment, because the best writing is usually done over an extended period of time, not as a last-minute task.

When planning the amount of time that you’ll need to write your paper, make sure to factor in enough time for the unexpected. You’ll be glad that you left enough time for the following:

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Writing for class projects might be a challenge at first. As mentioned, it is important to leave time to visit your institution’s writing center both when you are starting to work on your paper and at other times during the writing process. Professional staff and trained peer consultants who work in writing centers are available to help students express their ideas clearly through writing. You can also ask your instructor for examples of papers that have received good grades, and you might show your instructor your writing in progress and how the writing center helped you.