Revision and Editing Strategies

What’s the difference between revision and editing?

During revision, your writing is still under construction. You might add, subtract, or change the ideas you present; you might add new evidence; you might move paragraphs or sections, or you might change your thesis statement.

Only after you complete your revision do you begin editing. Editing is the fine tuning process. You are paying attention to word choice, sentence structure, punctuation, etc.

Revision Strategies

1. Read your draft out loud. If this is awkward for you, sit in your closet or car or bathroom, where others won’t hear you. This is the single-most productive revision strategy you can use to improve your work.

2. Get feedback from others. This may be during a class peer review session, with a helpful friend or family member, or via a visit to the Writing Center on campus or online.

3. Plan ahead so you have time to step away from the draft for a day or a few days before revising.

4. Focus on the global issues:

Editing strategies

1. Focus on one editing task per read through. (For example, read once through to look for sentence length; then read again for subject/verb agreement, and so on.)

2.  Listen to the sound of your sentences.

• Is there cohesion from one sentence to the next?
• Are there are a variety of kinds of sentences (long, short, medium length)?
• Do paragraphs sound choppy or smooth?
• Do you hear repeated words or phrases?
• Is your diction as concise as it could be?
• Do verbs match their subjects? Pronouns match their nouns?

3. Look for typos and use your spell check (and check your spell check).

4. Is the assignment formatted correctly? Is there a heading, pagination, and a title?