Revise and Edit

Author Advice

Revise and Edit

Revising and editing are two very different processes and may actually take longer than the writing of your first draft. But don’t get discouraged. You want to create your best work and that takes time.

Revising

Revising involves making improvement to your writing - making it clearer, more interesting, and maybe more informative.

One strategy that students have found useful in helping them revise is called ARMS, or what I call “Tips for Strong Writing”: Add, Remove, Move Around, Substitute. Download an ARMS Revision Sheet to get more information about each step. Print it out and keep it next to you as your revise.

Here are a few other questions to ask yourself when revising:

* Can you read it outloud without stumbling?

* Did you use vivid descriptive words?

* Did you use a variety of verbs?

* Are you using the same words or phrases over and over again?

* Do supporting details support only the topic sentence of that paragraph?

Adapted from the ABC’s of the Writing Process. Visit the site for more tips and strategies on revising.

Editing

Editing, or proofreading, is when writers focus on their spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, sentence structure, verb agreement and tense, and word usage. Edit first by yourself but then have someone else - and maybe even more than one person - help you edit as well. Uset the resources below for help.

General Strategies for Editing and Proofreading

Writing Checklist: Grades 2 - 4

Writing Checklist: Grades 5 - 8

Editing Symbols (PDF)

TIP: Do not depend only on the spellchecker on the computer. It will not catch all of your spelling or grammar mistakes.