Revision means to "see again." It is the opportunity to look critically at what you have written and make sure that you are expressing your ideas clearly. Revising your writing means looking at the structure and overall format, editing the spelling and grammar, and proofreading to catch remaining errors and polish the writing.
✓ Look at your ideas critically. Ask yourself: "What could I add, delete, move, or change to make my writing most effective in communicating my ideas to my readers?"
✓ Add examples and evidence. These additions can make your ideas clearer and your points stronger.
✓ Delete unnecessary information. Remove information if it is irrelevant, off-topic, or repetitive.
✓ Move information so that it has the maximum effect. For example, you might want to put your strongest point just before your conclusion.
✓ Rewrite or make changes to improve clarity. Will your ideas be clear to your reader? If not, you may want to make some changes or rewrite portions.
Use this checklist as a guide when you are revising your writing.
Use this tip sheet for help correcting run-on sentences.
Use this tip sheet for help correctly constructing simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Higher Order and Lower Order Concerns
Use this tip sheet to help you know what you should be looking at in each phase of the revision process.
Reverse outlining is a revision strategy to check the structure and logical flow of your essay. This tip sheet explains how to create a reverse outline and determine if the structure of your essay is logical.
There are three stages to revising your writing: revision, editing, and proofreading. Often these stages can be referred to as higher-order and lower-order concerns. The revision stage, discussed on this page, addresses higher-order concerns, which should be dealt with first. Lower-order concerns are addressed in the editing and proofreading stages.
Revision is focused on improving your ideas, not the mechanics of your paper.
Revision leads naturally to editing. Find a quiet space and remove yourself from distractions. Print off a draft of your writing since it is better to edit on paper than on the computer. Be prepared to make notes in the margins with your changes. Focus on the structure and order of ideas at this stage.
Watch this video to learn about the higher-order and lower-order concerns for revising your writing. The video (The Learning Portal Ontario, 2021) explains what you should be looking for as you revise, edit, and proofread what you have written.
If it’s an argumentative essay, do I have a strong, clear thesis statement?
Do my supporting paragraphs really support my thesis statement? If not, the essay may not withstand a critical reading.
Do I have enough credible supporting evidence, or do I need to add more factual evidence, examples, or discussion to convince or engage my readers?
Are my supporting paragraphs arranged so that they build logically to the conclusion?
Do I start strong and do I end strong?
Would the impact of my paper be stronger if I changed the order of the paragraphs? Some writers save their strongest points for the end.
Is there anything that I should delete from my paper because it is not relevant to the purpose of my paper or is inconsistent with the points that I make?
Upon reflection, am I happy with what I have to say?
Do I believe what I have said?
Can I defend my position and points of support if I am challenged to do so?
Writing an essay is hard work. It involves a lot of planning of your ideas and structure, writing in drafts and then reviewing and editing your writing once it is completed. This can involve going back and forth through your writing many times to make sure the final product is perfect.
Often times, this process of writing can cause writers to get so absorbed in their own essay that they lose focus of the bigger picture: who am I writing for?
Remember, the first approach to writing anything is to answer the following questions: What is my purpose for writing? Who is my audience?
The writer can become so interested in the process of writing that they forget another important aspect of writing: the reader. The revision stage allows the writer to take a step back and leave some time between writing and revising in order to analyze the writing more as a reader and less as the writer.
When possible, give yourself a day or two after you’ve finished writing before you take a look at your paper from the point of view of a reader. Follow a revision checklist or try out a concept called “Reverse Outlining,” explained in the final tip sheet under "Study Tools" on this page. Also, try reading backwards starting with the last sentence and correcting your essay one sentence at a time. You will notice a difference!
Unless otherwise stated, the material in this guide is from the Learning Portal created by College Libraries Ontario. Content has been adapted for the NWP Learning Commons in June 2021. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY NC SA 4.0 International License.
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