2.4 Revising and Editing (pg. 72-83)

revise

take a second look at your ideas

Read through it

-once to locate any problems with unity -twice to find problems with coherence

Tips to remember about you readers

-they notice misspellings -they look past your sentences to get your ideas unless the sentences are awkward, poorly constructed, and frustrating to read. -they notice no variety -they notice when you don't use there, their, and they're correctly -they notice the care with witch you handled your assignment and attention to detail in the delivery of an error-free document

When you edit

-you examine the surface features of your text. -you examine your spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation

Follow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate

Avoid SOCCC Be Careful, Choose Connotations, and be Specific Avoid: -Slang -Language that is overly casual -contractions -cliches -Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings -Choose words with the connotations you want -Use specific words rather than overly general words

Tips for looking over a first draft with a new perspective

BAsfURP -Take a break -Ask someone you trust for feedback/constructive criticism -Use the resources that your college provides -Pretend you are one of you readerss.

Evaluate the responses you receive acording to two important criteria:

Determine if: -the feedback supports the purpose of the assignment -suggested revisions are appropriate to the audience

eliminating wordiness makes your ideas clear, direct, and straightforward.

There is/are sentences withe Unnecessary modifiers, Deadwood phrases, Passive voice, and Constructions that can be shortened -Sentences that begin with there is or there are. -Sentences with unnecessary modifiers. -Sentences with deadwood phrases that add little to the meaning. -Sentences in the passive voice or with forms of the verb to be -Sentences with constructions that can be shortened

When a piece of writing has unity

all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense

Every writer's goal

find a draft that fits the audience and the purpose

edit

take a second look at how you expressed your ideas.

When a piece of writing has coherence

the ideas flow smoothly. The wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and from paragraph to paragraph

Careful writers use transitions

to clarify how the ideas in their sentences and paragraphs are related

Purpose of peer review

to receive constructive criticism of your essay

Sentence Structure checklist

● Are all my sentences simple sentences, or do I vary my sentence structure? ● Have I chosen the best coordinating or subordinating conjunctions to join clauses? ● Have I created long, overpacked sentences that should be shortened for clarity? ● Do I see any mistakes in parallel structure?

Grammar checklist

● Are some sentences actually sentence fragments? ● Are some sentences run-on sentences? How can I correct them? ● Do some sentences need conjunctions between independent clauses? ● Does every verb agree with its subject? ● Is every verb in the correct tense? ● Are tense forms, especially for irregular verbs, written correctly? ● Have I used subject, object, and possessive personal pronouns correctly? ● Have I used who and whom correctly? ● Is the antecedent of every pronoun clear? ● Do all personal pronouns agree with their antecedents? ● Have I used the correct comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs? ● Is it clear which word a participial phrase modifies, or is it a dangling modifier?

Mechanics and Usage checklist

● Can I find any spelling errors? How can I correct them? ● Have I used capital letters where they are needed? ● Have I written abbreviations, when allowed, correctly? ● Can I find any errors in the use of commonly confused words, such as to/too/two?

Punctuation checklist

● Does every sentence end with the correct end punctuation? ● Can I justify the use of every exclamation point? ● Have I used apostrophes correctly to write all singular and plural possessive forms? ● Have I used quotation marks correctly?

Key Takeaways

● Revising and editing are the stages of the writing process in which you improve your work before producing a final draft. ● During revising, you add, cut, move, or change information in order to improve content. ● During editing, you take a second look at the words and sentences you used to express your ideas and fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. ● Unity in writing means that all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong together and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense. ● Coherence in writing means that the writer's wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and between paragraphs. ● Transitional words and phrases effectively make writing more coherent. ● Writing should be clear and concise, with no unnecessary words. ● Effective formal writing uses specific, appropriate words and avoids slang, contractions, clichés, and overly general words. ● Peer reviews, done properly, can give writers objective feedback about their writing. It is the writer's responsibility to evaluate the results of peer reviews and incorporate only useful feedback. ● Remember to budget time for careful editing and proofreading. Use all available resources, including editing checklists, peer editing, and your institution's writing lab, to improve your editing skills.