After giving yourself—and your draft—a rest, review the draft by rereading it carefully for meaning, recalling your purpose, reconsidering your rhetorical stance, considering your audience, and evaluating your organization and use of visuals.

Reading for meaning

At this point, don’t sweat the small stuff. Instead, concentrate on your message and on whether you have expressed it clearly. Note any places where the meaning seems unclear.

Reflecting on purpose

Does your draft achieve its purpose? If you wrote for an assignment, make sure that you have produced what was asked for. If you set out to prove something, make sure you have succeeded. If you intended to propose a solution to a problem, make sure you have set forth a well-supported solution rather than just an analysis of the problem.

Reflecting on rhetorical stance

Take time to look at your draft with one central question in mind: where are you coming from in this draft? That is, articulate the rhetorical stance you take, and ask yourself what factors or influences have led you to that position. (For more on rhetorical stance, see 2d.)

Reflecting on audience

How appropriate is the text for your audience? Think carefully about your audience members’ experiences and expectations. Will they be interested in and able to follow your discussion? Is the language formal or informal enough for these readers? Have you defined any terms they may not know? What objections might they raise? (For more on audience, see 2e.)

When Emily Lesk reread her draft (3g), she noticed that she sounded a bit like a know-it-all, especially in the opening of her essay. After reflection, she decided that her tone was inappropriate, perhaps because she was trying too hard to get her audience’s attention, and that she needed to work on this problem in her revision.

Checking organization

Look through your draft, paying attention to the way one idea flows into another. Note particularly the first sentence of each new paragraph, and ask yourself how it relates to the paragraph that came before. If you can’t immediately see the connection, you probably need to strengthen the transition (5f).

Another good way to check your organization is to number the paragraphs in the draft, and then read through each one, jotting down the main idea or topic. Do the main ideas clearly relate to the thesis and to each other? Can you identify any confusing leaps from point to point? Have you left out any important points? Does any part of your essay go off track?

Reflecting on genre and media

You decided to write in a particular genre, so think again about why you made that choice. Is writing in this genre the best way to achieve your purpose and reach your audience? Does the draft fulfill the requirements of the genre? Would any content in your draft be more effective presented in another medium—for example, as a print handout instead of a PowerPoint slide? Should you consider “translating” your work into another medium (17a and b)? Do you need to take any additional steps to make your work as effective as it can be in this medium?

Visuals and media

Look closely at the images, audio, and video you have chosen to use. How do they contribute to your draft? Make sure that all visuals and media files are labeled with captions and sources, and remember to refer to visuals and media and to comment on their significance to the rest of your text. Would any information in your draft work better in visual than in verbal form?

Talking the Talk: Revision