Revising

Revising and proofreading are two different parts of the writing process. Generally, proofreading is the process of simply looking for and correcting surface errors. In turn, revising involves making significant changes that enhance the written work. After reading the following information, try our Self-Revision Checklist.

Although proofreading and revising are two different parts of the writing process, writers often proofread as they revise their work.

Reflecting on Your First Draft

As you reflect on your first draft, ask yourself the following questions:

	What did I learn from writing this piece?
	What do I intend to do in the first draft?
	What surprised or delighted me as I re-read my first draft?
	Where is this piece of writing taking me?
	What do I like best in this piece of writing?
	What questions have I left unanswered?
	What do I want to say that I have left unsaid?
	What do I think your reader will carry away from this piece of writing?
	What have I learned about your topic?
	What is my purpose in writing this piece?
	Who are my intended readers, and how much do they know about my topic?
	How is this writing task different from or similar to writing tasks I have undertaken in the past?
	What form or structure will allow me best to say what I need to say?

Revising a Nearly Finished Essay

Writers will often divide further revision into two phases, global and sentence-by-sentence revision.

Global revision is an attempt to look at the “big picture” of an essay and improve its larger elements; global revision entails those units of the essay that are on the paragraph level or larger. In turn, sentence-by-sentence revision entails sentences or smaller units such as clauses, phrases, words, grammatical markings, punctuation, and spelling.

Below you will find listed the criteria to help you revise and proofread your own paper. Keep in mind that these suggestions aim to finely tune an essay that is almost at its final draft.

Global Revision

1. Read over essay out loud, so you can hear your work.
2. Determine which sentence or group of sentences best expresses your understanding of the essay’s purpose.
3. If the thesis statement does not conform to your purpose, re-write it.
4. Read your essay again closely to ascertain whether or not every paragraph, piece of evidence, and sentence are pertinent to the essay’s stated purpose.
5. Delete parts of the essay that do not support your thesis.
6. Ask the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how to generate more material to support your thesis if you need it.
7. If you find you do not have enough supporting material, use pre-writing strategies to discover more facts, data, and information.
8. After scanning the new version of your essay, decide whether you can make a stronger case for your thesis by adding evidence at strategic points in your essay.
9. Check the sequence of paragraphs, general points, and evidence to make sure they present your argument in a logical sequence.
10. Check the internal structure of each body paragraph to make sure it contains a transition, a topic sentence, general propositions, internal transitions, supporting evidence and a concluding sentence.  Re-write any parts that do not directly support your thesis.
11. Ascertain whether your introductory paragraph establishes the subject matter, engages the reader’s attention, and moves gradually and logically towards your thesis statement.
12. Check your concluding paragraph to make sure it re-states your major points and suggests implications or possible results of the position your essay takes.

Notice that the above helps you build a stronger argument for your essay by adding new ideas, support and evidence. The changes you made during this revision focus on helping you develop your points.

The next step is to proofread, looking for errors while clarifying the ideas and points that you already have.

Information provided for CLASS by Ann Marie Ross, ECLP Faculty Associate

Revised by Peggy Ozaki, spring 2007