Editing
Goal: to perfect your paper on the sentence level, making
sure every sentence makes sense
Time: 30 minutes
Instructions:
It is important
that you learn to think of revision, editing and proofreading as three different
steps. Practice completing them at separate sittings so that you can truly focus
on each individual task.
Revision
involves reeevaluating, redesigning, reorgainzing, and rewriting entire sections
of your paper. You may change the paper drastically.
Editing asks you to examine each sentence to make sure it is clear and concise,
removing awkward phrases, and improving your word choice.
Proofreading asks you to check grammar, punctuation, and spelling, so it should be completed at the very end of the process.
Think of editing as your final chance to examine each sentence as a smaller unit. While reading at the sentence level, focus on the following points. For the activity make a list of 5 common mistakes you made in your paper.
Empty LanguageVocabulary
Are any words overused? Are there to many "to be" sections? Use a
thesaurus to strengthen the language of your paper.
Garbled Language
Look for sentences that do not make immediate sense. Rewrite each sentence so
that it can stand alone.