Use Sophia to knock out your gen-ed requirements quickly and affordably. Learn more
×

Revising techniques

Author: Tyler Jensen

The 5 steps to revising an essay

 

              Many people think revising a paper is checking for grammatical and punctuation errors but this is false.  Revise your paper in these five simple steps, so your paper will be polished and ready to hand in before you know it! There are many things that can go wrong in writing but if you follow this checklist it is unlikely you will miss anything. Don’t try to follow all of these steps at once, rather go in order of the checklist keeping in mind one step at a time.

  • Check the thesis

Check to make sure your thesis is supported with examples and explains what you’re talking about in your paper. Each paragraph should be related to your thesis. Does your conclusion summarize all the information in your paper and include your thesis? 

  • Check transitions

Make your paper fluent. Check to see if you are missing transition sentences between ideas. A good way to do this is by acting as if you are someone who has never read this paper before; question your writing to see if it would make sense to someone who has never read your paper. Reading your paper out-loud often helps you hear the places where transitions are missing. 

  • Clear details

Find the stories and in depth information, then read it apart from the rest of the paper to see if your information or story is clear. Think of the small details that may have been left out— sometimes the small details are what paint the whole picture.

  • Repetition

Are there any words, phrases, or ideas that are overly used? Sometimes reusing words and reiterating ideas is helpful for clarity and emphasis. Determine what repetition in your paper is helpful for your reader and his/her understanding of the story, and what repetition detracts from the story.

  • Grammar and punctuation

This is the last step and is the final polish to your paper. Are there any run-on sentences?  Do the subjects and verbs agree? Do your pronouns and antecedents agree in number and gender? Is everything spelled correctly? Remember, sometimes you spell a word correctly but it is the wrong form. E.g., there rather than their.

Different ways to revise

/