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Writing Your Paper

Revising and Editing Tutorial

Revising and editing ensure a paper communicates its message effectively. This process involves examining the content, structure, and mechanics of writing. Revising focuses on coherence, logical flow, and organization. Editing refines language use, such as word choice, sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation. Considering these aspects, revising and editing enhance the paper's quality, making it more compelling and readable.

This detailed tutorial emphasizes the importance of revising and editing, highlighting how they significantly improve a paper's coherence, organization, and language use, thus making it more compelling and readable.

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Editing Checklist

When you revise or edit a paper, focus on the ideas, organization, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Check ideas and organization
  • Is my thesis statement concise and clear?
  • Did I follow my outline?
  • Are my arguments presented in a logical sequence?
  • Are all sources properly cited to ensure that I am not plagiarizing?
    • Are all of the items in my reference page cited in my text?
    • Are all of the items cited in my text in my reference page?
    • Did I use the proper APA style?
  • Have I proved my thesis with strong supporting arguments?
  • Have I made my intentions and points clear in the essay? Are my arguments well-supported and well-reasoned? Did I have another reader review my paper?

Check grammar, spelling, and punctuation
  • Are there ideas I could express more concisely and in fewer words?
  • Do subjects and verbs agree?
  • Do pronouns and their antecedents agree in number and gender?
  • Words such as there, they're, and their are commonly misused. Did I use the correct forms?
  • Did I avoid writing with I and you for an academic paper?
  • To avoid repetition, I should vary the beginnings of my sentences. Did I avoid starting two sentences with the same word in the paragraph?
  • Did I use transition words when moving from one concept to the next? These are words like:  first, second, then, however, therefore, in addition...
  • Did I check for spelling?

Revision Video