The Revision Process

Introduction

The revision process is the middle step of your essay writing process. It is where the bulk of your work will be done. Many smaller steps take place during this part of essay writing and you do not want to rush through it or try to abbreviate the process. Doing so will show up in your final product. Revising will not guarantee you an A+ grade or even ensure that you can convince your reading audience of your argument, but it will take you much further towards this goal than if you present an unrevised essay. The more you revise, the better your paper will be, thus, you will be closer to achieving the goal you have for your essay. This lesson will help clarify the finer points of revision and teach you some tips and hints that are used by academics and professionals to create a satisfying, well written final product.

For this Lesson You will need:

Access to a printer
Colored pens, pencils, or highlighters (at least two different colors)
A notebook or loose scrap paper
A trusted friend, colleague, or fellow student

During the revision process you will want to focus on the following five areas:

Punctuation: Pay special attention to the use of colons, semi-colons, exclamation points, quotation marks, and commas. Commas are of particular concern for many new writers.
Spelling: You have spell check, so use it, but do not completely rely on it to catch every error. Read your work over carefully after you have run spell check.
Typos: Spell check will not catch typos such as this, "I wander if I should use a question mark in this sentence?" or this, "It was uncle's good advice that I read my work oven for typographical errors."
Sentence Structure and Grammar: Do your sentences make sense? Are they complete? Are they too long or too short? Does your introduction lead coherently into your body and your body into your conclusion?
Overall Cohesiveness: Is your essay fluid, easy to read, and easy to understand by your audience? Do you ramble in places and are you too brief in others? Did you leave something important out, or add unnecessary information?

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