Tips for Editing Your Writing!

After you finish writing your essay, it's important to edit your work in order to catch any mistakes you may have made, as well as to improve the general quality of your paper. Follow these words of advice to help guide you through the editing process!

1. Read the paper aloud as if you are reading a story.  

   • For this to work, it is important that you read SLOWLY and not mutter to yourself! Listen for errors.  If you listen carefully, you will be able to correct any errors that you hear.  

   • Listen for incomplete phrases, sentences, and ideas, as well as things that sound funny.

2. Look for patterns of error.

   • Personal patterns:  

     • All writers make mistakes that are typical of their writing.  If you always forget commas, check for commas.  If you always have trouble with transitions, look for transitions.  If you work on wordiness, look for this.  Bring your essays to the writing center!  A tutor can help you to locate the patterns of error.

   • List:  

     • Keep a list of your trouble spots.  Use this as a checklist and refer to it as you edit.

3. Know your grammar and punctuation rules, or know where to look them up.

• • Study the rules of grammar and punctuation. Review the ones you don't know.  If you have a writing handbook or handouts, keep them out when you write.  Refer to them when you have questions as you write and edit.

Source: https://gustavus.edu/writingcenter/handoutdocs/editing_proofreading.php 

More Tips for Editing Your Writing!

1. Let Your Writing Rest for a Few Hours or Days

• • The more distance you put between yourself and your writing, the easier it is to make improvements and find mistakes. When possible, let important writing sit for a few days. When you pick up the material again, it’s almost like proofing someone else’s work.

  • If you don’t have the luxury of letting your work sit for days, then a few hours will have to do. Find another activity that will help you distance yourself from the writing. You might want to take a jog, wash the dishes, or take your dog to the park. Do something that clears your mind. Ideally, you can approach the work from a fresh perspective.

2. Read Your Writing in a New Format

• • Seeing your writing in a different format can help you correct everything from misspellings to poor word choice. If you have access to a printer, make a paper copy that you can use to note changes.

3. Read Your Writing Out Loud

• • This is a helpful tip for writers of all skill levels. Brains are tricky machines that often see what they want to see. Reading silently makes it easier for your brain to correct mistakes and fill in gaps. If your brain expects to see the word “off,” then it will quietly transform similar words, such as “oft” or “of,” to match those expectations.

  • Reading out loud disrupts your brain’s attempt to make everything look perfect. You will likely find yourself stammering through poorly worded sentences and pausing at misspelled words. If you have difficulty reading a section, then you know you’ve found a piece of writing you could improve.

4. Read Backwards

• • Disrupting narrative flow can help you find mistakes you would otherwise miss. Try reading your work backward, starting with the last paragraph and ending with the first. This approach forces you to pay careful attention to details and makes it harder for your brain to correct mistakes. When you’re fully engaged in reading, you’re more likely to see opportunities for improvement.

5. Use Grammarly to Find and Avoid Mistakes

• • Grammarly is a writing app that acts as a fresh set of eyes to look over your work carefully and spot spelling and grammar mistakes. Grammarly checks more than 250 advanced rules to find mistakes such as:

    • • double negatives

      • run-on sentences

      • comma splices

      • sentence fragments

      • double pronouns

      • dangling modifiers 

Source: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/5-tips-for-editing-your-own-work/ 

Comma Usage

Beware of popular myths of comma usage:

• MYTH: Long sentences need a comma. The length of a sentence does not determine whether you need a comma.

• MYTH: You should add a comma wherever you pause. Different readers pause or breathe in different places.

• MYTH: Too many commas in one sentence aren't right. All commas in a sentence should be present if needed in the structure, no matter what. 

REMEMBER:

Comma Usage should always follow its rules in all forms of papers because it's important to let your readers know where your main ideas can be found within your sentence, what background you're giving, and technical structures. 

The easier your paper is to read with the correct punctuation, the more interested your reader is in the topic you are discussing. 

Most Common Comma Usages:

Rule 1: INTRODUCTORY BITS (Small - Medium - Large)

• • • • Regardless of bit size, the comma usage will let the reader know that the main idea will be followed up after the comma.

      • examples: Generally, I like to eat at a restaurant downtown, (small). Throughout her life, my mother has always liked to cook, (medium). If you ever stop by my house, my mother is likely to offer you a drink, (large). 

Rule 2: FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)

• • • • FANBOYS serve as connectors for words, phrases, or clauses. 

      • example: My mom loves to cook big meals, so I bought her bigger pans. 

Rule 3: "FANBOY FAKERS" (However, Therefore, Moreover, etc.)

• • • • These words also serve as connectors, but they require commas before and after they're said.

      • example: When I bought my mom's pans, it was very expensive, so I, therefore, had to withdraw money from my bank account. 

Rule 4: Interrupters (X, Y, X)

• • • • When further describing your subject, it needs to have a comma to interrupt and another comma after to close off your description.

      • example: The store I went to for my mom's pans, which was too far to walk, was in the same shopping center as the gym. 

Commas. The Writing Center at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2017. writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/commas, Accessed 3 October 2017.

Editing Run-On Sentences

How to Correct Short Sentences

• The simplest way to make short sentences longer is by adding coordinating conjunctions, which are commonly used to connect independent clauses or phrases.

Examples

INCORRECT: Too many short sentences can hurt an essay. It can make the writing seem choppy. The writing may seem like it is below college level. Readers may lose interest. They may not want to continue reading. 

• Notice how the writing in this example seems choppy and doesn’t flow well. Now, look at how this writing can be improved by joining some of these sentences together with coordinating conjunctions:

CORRECT: Too many short sentences can hurt an essay, for it can make the writing seem choppy and seem like it is below college level. Because of this, readers may lose interest and may not want to continue reading.

• Another way to fix the problem of short sentences is to add subordinating conjunctions. 

INCORRECT: My grades continue to suffer. I am not studying as much as I should. I hope to pass. I am not sure I will.

CORRECT revision through subordination: My grades continue to suffer because I am not studying as much as I should.  Even though I hope to pass, I am not sure that I will. 

• Notice how subordinating conjunctions not only connect sentences together to improve length but also show how ideas are connected. 

The following is a list of common subordinating conjunctions that can be used: after, although, as, as if, as though, because, before, even if, even though, if, if only, now that, once, rather than, since, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whereas, wherever, whereas, whether, which, while.