The Editing and Revision Process
Sometimes students make the mistake of treating revising and editing as one task, but they are separate activities. When you revise, you address the effectiveness of your overall message. When you edit, you take a closer look at the content and remedy issues at the sentence level.
Revision is about getting a fresh perspective on your writing. Ideally, you should allow enough time before your paper is due to put it aside for a bit. When you return to it, you are better able to see the content more objectively—similar to how your reader would see it. You can then start the revision process, starting with a big-picture view of the essay (its overarching ideas and organization) and gradually narrowing your focus to each paragraph (topic sentences and supporting evidence).
After you have completed revisions and your content is more stable, you begin the editing stage of the process. This involves digging into the essay at the sentence level and looking for “smaller” errors such as those in sentence structure, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. You must recognize, too, that it’s almost impossible to catch every error during a single editorial pass. A thorough edit includes completing several readings of your paper. With that in mind, allow yourself enough time to do at least three careful readings of your work.
The Stages of Revising and Editing
Revising and editing are both important parts of the writing process, yet many students skip revising and don’t spend enough time editing. Although you might be tempted to skip these steps (especially if you are up against a deadline), don’t. Admittedly, revising and editing are time-consuming, but they are crucial to developing an effective essay.
When you revise, you “re-see” a piece of writing by approaching the content in three stages. First, you take a big-picture view by stepping back, looking at the essay as a whole, and gauging whether you are effectively communicating your intended meaning. Next, you take a mid-view, moving in closer and looking at the content at the paragraph level. Finally, you take the closest look at your content. This is the editing stage, during which you review your essay line by line, correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Your goal should always be to write clearly and concisely, and in an engaging way. Dedicating time to this three-stage approach can help you achieve this goal by revealing both larger structural issues and smaller mistakes that can weaken your essay.
Consider the process in three stages. Note that these tips for an "essay" pertain to any graduate writing assignment. Click the components on the left for details.
Three Stages of Revising and Editing
Take Note
Licenses and Attributions
Lesson 9.1: Revising and Editing from OpenNow from Cengage English Composition 2 Reading & Learning Objectives by OpenNow from Cengage is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. UMGC has modified this work and it is available under the original license.