Improving Your Writing Revision

Improving your writing revision

Why Does revision matter?

We all have wonderful ideas and great stories to tell. Unfortunately, they don’t always come out perfectly on the first try.

When writing personal statements, our goal is to communicate to our reader who we are and why we’re a good fit for their school or scholarship. Part of that includes showing that we care about the work we put out into the world. We revise to make sure our work represents our best selves and to show others that we are intentional about everything we do!

Sometimes, representing our best self means starting over from scratch. That’s part of the writing process, too. If the topic you’re writing about really isn’t working out, try answering a different prompt that gets you fired up.

the revision process

The revision process looks different for everyone, but at a basic level, it means looking at your writing again to see what you can change or improve. Here’s a basic guide to the steps you want to take.

Make a decision

Choosing how you’ll edit is the first thing you want to do.

If you have access to a printer, printing out the essay and making revisions with a red (or other colorful) pen is a good way to visualize the changes you want to make.

If you don’t have access to a printer, you can use the “Track Changes” feature on Microsoft Word or “Suggesting” mode on Google Docs (click on the pencil icon below the “Share” button in the top right corner).

This way, you’ll be able to see the edits you make and preserve the original format before making official changes.

Make your mark

Don’t be afraid to mark up your document A LOT! Cross out words and sentences that you need to delete, write notes in the margins (or use the comment feature of Google Docs), use arrows to reorganize paragraphs and sentences. Make sure your notes and edits are clear enough that you can pick it up the next day and understand what they mean!

If you’re not sure what to look for, try thinking about these 3 areas: storytelling, grammar and spelling, and organization.

Storytelling

Your essay probably features personal stories and experiences. Ask yourself these questions:

What is the main message of my personal statement? Does it have a clear beginning, middle, and end?
Will this story be interesting to college admissions counselors? Does it showcase a personal trait that will help me be successful in college (like courage, resilience, leadership, or resourcefulness)?
How personal do I get? (Remember, you don’t have to share information you’re not comfortable with someone else reading. Only share what feels right!)

Grammar and Spelling

This is key to making your essay easy to follow. Think about these questions:

Is my essay in the correct tense? For example, if you’re telling a story from the past, make sure your verbs are in the past tense.
Do I have any contractions? Examples include: can’t, won’t, isn’t, should’ve, and others.
Change contractions to full words like: cannot, will not, is not, should have
Do I use correct punctuation?
Are proper nouns and beginnings of sentences capitalized?

Organization

This is key to making your essay easy to follow. Think about these questions:

Does the structure make sense?
Do I spend enough time on each section?
- For example, do you spend 95% of the essay telling a story, and only 5% is left for reflecting why you want to go to college?
- Aim for a balance between 50% storytelling and 50% reflection on why you’re college-ready because of this experience.
If I’m telling a story about something that happened in the past, is it in chronological order? Does it need to be?
Do I use paragraphs to break up my ideas?
Does the essay meet the word count minimum and not exceed the maximum?

For more ideas on what to look at when revising, check out this tip sheet from the University of Michigan’s writing center for some ideas on what you should focus on. For grammar questions, Grammarly’s English handbook might also help.

make a change

Once you’ve made your first round of edits, apply them! Fix grammatical errors, move sentences and paragraphs around to make the essay flow better, cut out unnecessary content, and make other improvements you noted. Here's an example of a first draft with suggested edits and comments visible.

send it along

Once you’re done editing your draft, it’s time to send it off to someone you trust!

If you haven’t picked a person yet, think about your cheerleaders. You can ask a friend, a teacher, a parent, or even your adviser. A fresh set of eyes will help find room for improvement that you, as the writer, may have missed!

Here’s a sample email that includes everything you should ask your potential editor:

Dear Mr/Mrs./Ms. [Last Name]

I am currently applying to colleges and am working on my personal statement. Because I want admissions counselors to see my best work, I was wondering if you could help me by editing my essay? Here are some things I know I need to work on:

[Insert 2-3 areas for improvement in your essay, so they know what to look out for. You could say you want them to check your spelling and grammar, or ask them if you answered the essay prompt fully.]]

Please let me know if you can help, and I will send you my essay. The application is due on [insert date], so I would love it if we could get together to discuss the edits by [insert a date 1-2 weeks before the deadline].

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Once your editor has made their suggestions, discuss the edits with them, preferably in person, on the phone, or over video chat. This will make it much easier to understand what has to get done when you sit down to make corrections.

Remember: This is your essay, so you don’t need to accept every single revision an editor suggests. However, if you have doubts about a suggestion, ask the editor why they made that revision. Understanding their reason could change your mind!

revise, revise, recycle

After your first big revision process for this essay, take a moment to reflect. What parts of this helped you out the most? Which parts felt like they weren’t useful? Use this experience to tailor your writing and revision process for your second essay, or any of the ones that might come afterwards.

As the summer begins to wrap up, use this time to practice what works for you. Whether it’s for personal statements or essays for class, figuring out your revision process is key to becoming an even stronger writer!

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