Revision, Editing, ProofingK. Shimabukuro

Step 1- Revision Is your thesis/argument clear? Does each topic sentence of each body

paragraph make a clear statement/point about your topic? Use color coding to double check this Make sure you haven’t buried the topic of your

body paragraph Look within each body paragraph and make

sure that the ideas and argument flows well and supports the topic sentence.

More on Revision You might have to make major changes to your

paper. I suggest printing out your paper and making

notes on this first. Save each revision as a separate document (v2,

v3, etc.) so that you can revisit a previous draft if you need to.

Don’t be afraid to cut out portions that aren’t supporting your argument.

Look at organization- would this paragraph be better earlier? Or later?

Revise, revise, revise You will have to revise your paper more

than once. Each time you make major revisions, read

the paper out loud, make notes, use color coding.

You need to make sure your argument is clear and supported before you move onto the next step.

Be sure that your citations are still correct if you move pieces of information around.

Step 2- Editing Once you’ve finished with the revision of your

argument, which has to do with how your argument is structured, then you’re ready to edit.

Editing has to do with grammar, spelling and syntax. The best way to make editing corrections to the paper

is to read it out loud. DO NOT rely on spell and grammar check. Both make

mistakes, or “misread” items. While you should spell and grammar check, there is no replacement for you editing your paper.

Again, I think a printed out copy helps with this. Make corrections as you read aloud.

Step 3- Proofreading Proofreading is often confused with

editing, as many people complete both activities at the same time.

I suggest that you keep it a separate step. Proofreading includes:

Checking for typos and misspellings. Checking that the format of your paper is

MLA. This includes parenthetical citations

Finishing Up Use the resources we’ve covered in

class. Purdue OWL The revision checklist MLA sites for parenthetical citations and

general paper formatting