What is revision?
Revision is a common, professional writing practice. It means to “re-envision” or “re-see” your writing. While editing and proofreading is about fixing grammar or other mechanical mistakes, revision is part of the entire writing process. Writers revise as they continue to work on their paper and shape it for their audience. Use the strategies below to step back from your draft, check how your ideas are working, and decide what to develop, move, cut, or clarify before you turn the paper in.
Strategies for seeing your draft more clearly
Strategy 1: Reverse outline
- Read each paragraph and write keywords in the margin that capture what the paragraph is doing. This can help you better understand how the paragraph connects to the thesis or main purpose, such as explaining terms the reader needs to follow the argument.
- For example, a keyword or phrase can describe the paragraph’s purpose, such as “defining important terms” or “establish the context.”
- Or keywords can describe the paragraph’s content or important points.
- Pay close attention to the make-up of each paragraph. Ask yourself:
- Am I doing too much in one paragraph? Does this paragraph need to be split?
- Does everything in this paragraph connect to my thesis, or can I cut anything?
- Does this make sense here, or do I need to move it?
- Is there any way I can revise this to make it more clear or impactful?
- Look for places where the organization could improve or ways that might help the ideas flow more effectively. Compare your draft to what your thesis or introduction previewed, then decide whether you need to add, remove, or move anything.
- For example, what would happen if you swapped two sections, changed the order of your ideas, or moved a paragraph closer to the point it supports?
Strategy 2: Color coding
Use underlining, highlighting, or color to identify the following components in each paragraph. Look at any sentences that are not marked. Do they still help the paragraph make its point, or do they need to be moved, revised, or cut?
- the main claim of each paragraph
- supporting points or evidence
- sentences where you analyze, explain, or synthesize the evidence
Strategy 3: Create a checklist from the prompt
Using the original assignment prompt, and the rubric if you have one, clearly identify each requirement, directive, question, or component. You can do this by color coding, underlining, or numbering.
- On a separate page, create a checklist for each of the requirements. Use this checklist when you’re evaluating your draft. Ask: Have I responded to every required part of the assignment?
- This is also a great way to check understanding with your professor. You can take your checklist to them and ask them to review it.
Strategy 4: Read aloud and read out of order
Sometimes our brain will “fill in the gaps” for us as we read our own writing silently to ourselves. By reading our writing out loud, we can often find places we’d like to work on, issues to clarify, questions to answer, or errors to edit.
- If we always start at the beginning of our paper and read to the end, we may start to get “numb” by our own writing and find it difficult to pay attention or spot issues.
- Try reading your paper from the conclusion (or end) back, paragraph by paragraph, to the introduction (or beginning).
- Notice where you feel confused, stumble over wording, or lose track of the sentence. Watch for the parts your brain automatically fills in or corrects as you read.
Strategy 5: Get another reader’s perspective
- Read your draft from the prompt’s point of view. Where does the draft stop answering the question, miss a required direction, need more development, or leave something unproven or unexplained?
- Ask a writing center consultant, friend, classmate, or instructor to read for one specific issue at a time. For example, you might ask, “Can you tell me where my main point is clearest?” or “Where do you want more explanation?” Focused questions help readers give you more useful feedback.