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How To Proofread,Edit, and Rewrite Essays
Editing is a necessary part of the writing process. When you edit something you have written you inevitably make it better. This is especially true when it comes to writing essays.
Proofreading and editing your essay can seem tedious, but it is actually a simple task if you tackle it in an organized manner. Just remember to take it slow and check for one thing at a time.
1. Take a Break: Don't go right into revision after your rough draft is finished. Take a rest and let your draft "cool" for a few hours or even overnight before returning to it. Then give it an honest appraisal.
2. Revise The Large Elements First: Revision is best done by asking yourself questions about what you have written. Otherwise, you will be staring at the draft for a long time wondering what you should be looking for. Begin reading, preferably aloud, what you have written.Ask yourself these questions as you read:
Is my topic well focused?Does my thesis statement clearly identify my topic and make an assertion about it?Is my organizational pattern the best one, given my purpose? Have I tried alternative patterns of organization?Is my essay coherent? Have I used transitions to link paragraphs?Are my paragraphs effective? Do my topic sentences relate to my thesis? Do they support my thesis?Do I have enough supporting details, and are my examples well chosen to support my thesis?Did I accomplish my purpose?How effective is my beginning? Ending?Do I have a good title?
3. Revise Your Sentences: First of all, you need to ask yourself a set of questions.Do my sentences convey my thoughts clearly?Do I subordinate less important ideas to more important ones?Do my sentences emphasize the most important part of the thought?Are they varied?Are my sentences complete sentences? Have I unintentionally written any sentence fragments?Are any of my sentence comma splices or run-on sentences?Some of your sentences may end up being long and rambling and that others are short and choppy, giving the impression that your thoughts are disconnected. Make sure to revise all sentence errors you have found when asking yourself the previous questions.
4. Revise Your Diction: Look at the use of words and ask yourself the following set of questions.Do I use three words when one will do?Is my diction exact, and each word meaning precisely what I think it does?Do I engage my reader with concrete nouns and strong action verbs?Do I use appropriate language, avoiding slang, regional language, pompous language, and doublespeak?Is my language unbiased?Is my writing fresh and forceful or burdened by unnecessary words?Have I committed any usage errors?Some aspects of revising allow for personal choice. Certain revision changes, however, are questions of correctness and thus are not open to choice. These are questions of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Rewrite Your Essay
Now that you know how to write a personal essay, rewrite your rough draft essay. This will be a whole new essay. Pay particular attention to structure (thesis sentence/topic sentences)and detail. Use transitions inside each paragraph and to link paragraphs. Please remember, you must do much more than simply correct the mistakes.
Use this check list to guide your editing.
Proofreading and editing your essay can seem tedious, but it is actually a simple task if you tackle it in an organized manner. Just remember to take it slow and check for one thing at a time.
1. Take a Break: Don't go right into revision after your rough draft is finished. Take a rest and let your draft "cool" for a few hours or even overnight before returning to it. Then give it an honest appraisal.
2. Revise The Large Elements First: Revision is best done by asking yourself questions about what you have written. Otherwise, you will be staring at the draft for a long time wondering what you should be looking for. Begin reading, preferably aloud, what you have written.Ask yourself these questions as you read:
Is my topic well focused?Does my thesis statement clearly identify my topic and make an assertion about it?Is my organizational pattern the best one, given my purpose? Have I tried alternative patterns of organization?Is my essay coherent? Have I used transitions to link paragraphs?Are my paragraphs effective? Do my topic sentences relate to my thesis? Do they support my thesis?Do I have enough supporting details, and are my examples well chosen to support my thesis?Did I accomplish my purpose?How effective is my beginning? Ending?Do I have a good title?
3. Revise Your Sentences: First of all, you need to ask yourself a set of questions.Do my sentences convey my thoughts clearly?Do I subordinate less important ideas to more important ones?Do my sentences emphasize the most important part of the thought?Are they varied?Are my sentences complete sentences? Have I unintentionally written any sentence fragments?Are any of my sentence comma splices or run-on sentences?Some of your sentences may end up being long and rambling and that others are short and choppy, giving the impression that your thoughts are disconnected. Make sure to revise all sentence errors you have found when asking yourself the previous questions.
4. Revise Your Diction: Look at the use of words and ask yourself the following set of questions.Do I use three words when one will do?Is my diction exact, and each word meaning precisely what I think it does?Do I engage my reader with concrete nouns and strong action verbs?Do I use appropriate language, avoiding slang, regional language, pompous language, and doublespeak?Is my language unbiased?Is my writing fresh and forceful or burdened by unnecessary words?Have I committed any usage errors?Some aspects of revising allow for personal choice. Certain revision changes, however, are questions of correctness and thus are not open to choice. These are questions of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Rewrite Your Essay
Now that you know how to write a personal essay, rewrite your rough draft essay. This will be a whole new essay. Pay particular attention to structure (thesis sentence/topic sentences)and detail. Use transitions inside each paragraph and to link paragraphs. Please remember, you must do much more than simply correct the mistakes.
Use this check list to guide your editing.
- Introduction
Is interesting. Uses an anecdote or a turnabout introduction. Catches the readerÕs attention. Introduces the topic clearly. Moves smoothly to a clear thesis statement.
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- Thesis Statement Clearly contains the topic and a controlling idea . In other words, states a clear, significant insight, opinion or observation.
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- Structure Demonstrates a clear relationship between thesis sentence and topic sentences. ItÕs possible to build an outline from these sentences alone.
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- Development The details are clear, verifiable, relevant, specific and sufficient. Especially, the details are vivid and interesting. Both personal and researched details are used
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- Coherence A variety of transition devices are employed to hold the paragraphs together. Sophisticated transitions are used between paragraphs. Clear topic sentences head each paragraph.
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- Unity Evidence and reasoning is to the point and works to achieve the purpose of the essay. No irrelevant or useless statements.
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- General Readability The essay is interesting and easy for the reader to understand.
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- Fluency The essay use varied, specific vocabulary and sophisticated, embedded sentence structure.
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- Mechanics This is 2 times as important as any other part. Writer has scrupulously proofread the paper. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are nearly perfect.11. Presentation Typed neatly with a minimum of errors. Double spaced, with a margin on all sides. Full heading is on top. A clear title.
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- Quotations Well punctuated. properly cited. worked smoothly into the text. appropriate to text. Works Cited page uses MLA or APA style.
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- Adherence to Assignment Significantly rewrite one of your first three papers demonstrating that you can write a well-developed, well-structured personal essay.
1 . . . 2 . . . . 3 . . . . . 4 . . . . . 5 . . . . 6 . . . . . 7 . . . . . 8 . . . . 9 . . . . 10 - Quotations Well punctuated. properly cited. worked smoothly into the text. appropriate to text. Works Cited page uses MLA or APA style.
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