Very often, students work to deadlines and they hand in tasks at the last moment. Two hours spent on editing your work can make all the difference between creating the impression of a sloppy careless piece of work, and one that is thoughtful and well-executed. Below are some guidelines to use as a checklist.
What You should Know
Revising gives you the chance to preview your work on behalf of the eventual reader. Revision is much more than proofreading, though in the final editing stage it involves some checking of details. Good revision and editing can transform a mediocre first draft into an excellent final paper. It is more work, but leads to real satisfaction when you find you have said what you wanted.
There are four kinds of revisions: (1) large-scale revision; (2) small-scale revision;(3) editing; (4) proofreading.
Revisions usually start large and end small. In global revisions, you check the general structure of your writing by:
Making sure the structure is a complete and logical one.
Checking that your paragraphs follow the sequence of the topics.
Checking paragraph transitions.
In local revisions, you revise your language (sentences and words) for variety and style. You may take the steps as follows:
Proofreading. Read the whole writing carefully for spelling, punctuation and grammatical mistakes.
Revising sentences for variety and style. Revise sentences that follow the same pattern to avoid monotony, and pay attention to the right “tone” or “voice” of your language.
Revising words for accuracy and exactness. Use words that can best make your point, and remove redundant and meaningless words or phrases.
Finally, do not fall in love with what you have written. If you do, you will be hesitant to change it even if you know it is not great. Start out with a working thesis, and do not act like you are married to it. Instead, act like you are dating it, seeing if you are compatible, finding out what it is like from day to day. If a better thesis comes along, let go of the old one. Also, don’t think of revision as just rewording. It is a chance to look at the entire paper, not just isolated words and sentences.