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Writing & Communication : Revising, Editing, & Proofreading
Revising, Editing & Proofreading Your Writing: sub-module 1 of 2 of the editing & proofreading module
Revising, editing, and proofreading are the key final steps to strengthening your writing. Revision focuses on the big picture—making sure your ideas are clear, well-organized, and fully developed. Editing sharpens your sentences, corrects grammar and spelling, and ensures your word choices are precise. Proofreading comes last, catching small mistakes and polishing the final draft so it’s ready to share. Together, these steps help you transform a rough draft into clear, professional writing.
Tips
- Look at your ideas critically.Ask yourself: "What could I add, delete, move, or change to make my writing most effective in communicating my ideas to my readers?"
- Add examples and evidence.These additions can make your ideas clearer and your points stronger.
- Delete unnecessary information.Remove information if it is irrelevant, off topic, or repetitive.
- Move information so that it has the maximum effect.For example, you might want to put your strongest point just before your conclusion.
- Rewrite or make changes to improve clarity.Will your ideas be clear to your reader? If not, you may want to make some changes, or rewrite portions.
- Keep a record of the major errors you have made in past written assignments.Usually we make the same errors in our writing. Review those error types to ensure that you understand the problems and how to correct them for next time.
- Work with your sentences until they sound right.If a sentence doesn’t sound right to you, look at the elements of the sentence to find where it can be improved.
- Work with a writing coach or tutor at your college.Tutors won’t go through your writing line-by-line, but they will answer specific questions and teach you how to correct your own mistakes. Make sure you are ready to ask your questions before your appointment.
Attribution
The video Higher Order Concerns and Lower Order Concerns was created by The Learning Portal and published under a CC BY-NC-SA license. It was modified from the following sources:
- Higher Order Concerns for Editing by Lumen Learning, licensed under CC BY.
- Putting the Pieces Together by Andrew Stracuzzi and André Cormier, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.
- 1, 2, 3 Write! by Gay Monteverde is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.
What to Consider When Reviewing the Content of Your Writing
Higher-Order and Lower-Order Concerns
There are three stages to revising your writing: Revision, Editing, and Proofreading. Often these stages can be referred to as Higher-Order and Lower-Order concerns. The Revision stage addresses Higher-Order concerns, which should be addressed first. Lower-Order concerns are addressed in Editing and Proofreading stages.
Revision is focused on improving your ideas, not the mechanics of your paper.
Revision leads naturally to editing. Find a quiet space and remove yourself from distractions. Print off a draft of your writing since it is best to edit on paper than on the computer. Be prepared to make notes in the margins with your changes. Focus on structure and order of ideas at this stage.
Watch this video to learn about the Higher-Order and Lower-Order concerns for revising your writing. The video explains what you should be looking for as you revise, edit, and proofread what you have written.
Revision Techniques
Revision is the stage at which you look critically at what you have written and make sure that you are expressing your ideas clearly. Revising your writing means looking at the structure and overall format. Below you can discover some techniques to help you evaluate how clearly you express your ideas. There is also a revision checklist to help you cover everything.
Learn How to Use Reverse Outlining
Reverse outlining is a revision technique where you create an outline after writing a draft.
To create a reverse outline, go through your completed work, paragraph by paragraph, and create a list of the main idea of each one. This helps you see the structure of your writing, check for clarity and focus, and identify areas where ideas may be repeated, missing, or out of order. It’s especially useful for improving organization and flow in essays or reports.
Reverse Outlining Video Transcript - RTFLearn to Change Your Perspective from Writer to Reader
Writing an essay is hard work. It involves a lot of planning of your ideas and structure, writing in drafts and then reviewing and editing your writing once it is completed. This can involve going back and forth through your writing many times to make sure the final product is perfect.
Often times, this process of writing can cause writers to get absorbed into their own essay to the point that they lose focus of the bigger picture: Who am I writing for?
Remember, the first approach to writing anything is to answer the following questions: What is my purpose for writing? Who is my audience?
The writer can become so interested in the process of writing that they forget another important aspect of writing: The Reader. The revision stage allows for the writer to take a step back and allow for some time between writing and revising in order to analyze the writing more as a reader and less as the writer.
Take a step back from your writing. Maybe give yourself a day or two after you’ve finished writing before you take a look at it as a reader. Follow a revision checklist or try out a concept called “Reverse Outlining”. Also try reading backwards starting with the last sentence and correcting your essay one sentence at a time. You will notice a difference!
Revision Checklist
- Are my introduction and my conclusion strong enough to attract and engage my readers, and to provide a sense of closure at the end?
- If it’s an argumentative essay, do I have a strong, clear thesis statement?
- Do my supporting paragraphs really support my thesis statement? If not, the essay may not withstand a critical reading.
- Do I have enough credible supporting evidence, or do I need to add more factual evidence, examples, or discussion to convince or engage my readers?
- Are my supporting paragraphs arranged so that they build logically to the conclusion?
- Do I start strong and do I end strong?
- Would the impact of my paper be stronger if I changed the order of the paragraphs? Some writers save their strongest points for the end.
- Is there anything that I should delete from my paper because it is not relevant to the purpose of my paper or is inconsistent with the points that I make?
- Upon reflection, am I happy with what I have to say?
- Do I believe what I have said?
- Can I defend my position and points of support if I am challenged to do so?
Editing your Work
When you begin to edit, you are moving from focusing on your ideas and structure to focusing on the sentences and words in your writing. Now is the time to pay attention to sentence structure and grammar. Use the following information for help with this process:
- Grammar and Punctuation: Review information on Sentence error correction and more.
- Editing Checklist: Use the checklist below to make sure you cover everything in the editing stage. Download a copy- opens in a new window of the checklist to use as a guide while reviewing and polishing your work.
Editing Checklist
- Have I read a hard copy of my work?
- Have I identified my thesis statement?
- Have I evaluated my thesis statement? (Does it have a point? Is it opinionated? Is it referred to and proven in the work? Can you tell what the work is about from the thesis statement?)
- Does each main paragraph have a topic sentence?
- Is the work coherent?
- Is there an introduction and a conclusion?
- Am I within the length requirements for the work?
- Do I primarily use active voice?
- Have I edited out repetition?
- Have I answered the question that was posed in my assignment?
- Has someone else read my work?
The Proofreading Process
Proofreading is the final step in the revision process, where you give your assignment or essay a careful last look before submitting. Unlike editing, which focuses on improving content and structure, proofreading is about catching small errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting.
Watch the video and use the checklist below to make sure you cover everything in the proofreading stage. Download a copy- opens in a new window of the checklist to use as a guide while reviewing and polishing your work.
Proofreading Checklist
- Have I looked for mistakes without relying on a spellchecker?
- Have I proofread a hard copy of my essay?
- Have I read my essay aloud?
- Have I read every word instead of skimming?
- Have I broken sentences down to verify things such as subject-verb agreement?
- Have I verified that I use plural nouns if I am referring to more than one of something?
- Have I made sure I have capitalized where it is necessary?
- Have I read my paper backwards?
- Do my essay and list of references fit the guidelines of the relevant style guide (MLA, APA, etc.)?
- Has someone else read my essay?
Study Tools
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Editing ChecklistUse this checklist as a guide when you are editing your writing.
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Higher Order and Lower Order Concerns - Opens in a new windowUse this tip sheet to help you know what you should be looking at in each phase of the revision process.
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How to Use Articles in Your Writing Opens in a new windowUse this tip sheet for help understanding articles and when to use them.
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Proofreading Checklist Opens in a new windowUse this checklist as a guide when you are proofreading your writing.
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Run-On Sentence Tip Sheet Opens in a new windowUse this tip sheet for help correcting run-on sentences.