Editing

Editing a Report

When you edit your report, you have two choices. You can either edit it on the screen, after opening the word processing program – or you can print out a copy and mark down the edits with a pen. If you choose to print out a copy and edit it with a pen, you'll still have to transfer the changes to the on-screen version later. The important thing is to choose the editing method that works best for you.

The mistake that most people make is thinking that the main purpose of editing is to find spelling and grammatical errors. When you first sit down to edit your report, you should read the report from start to finish. At this time, you can note any spelling and grammatical errors that need to be corrected. If you're editing on the screen, you can make the changes as you go along. That said, though, there is a lot more to editing your report than catching errors such as these.

Once you've read the report from start to finish to catch any spelling or grammatical errors, read it again for flow. It helps if you read it aloud. Any places in your report that lack flow will be more apparent to you when you read it aloud. For example, there may be sentences that are too long or awkwardly worded. Again, these things are easier to catch when you read the report aloud.

Next, you want to go back to the beginning of your report and go through it again to check for the following things.

Appropriateness. Make sure the report is informative if needs to be informative – or persuasive if it needs to be persuasive. Make sure it's written for your intended audience, and fulfills its purpose.

Coherence and Completeness. The different parts of your reports should be connected. In other words, you shouldn't read the summary statement, then feel lost as you read the background compartment. You also want to be sure that all the information that your audience needs is included in the report – and it's presented clearly so your audience recognizes it. If something needs to be changed in your report, make a note of it. Most word processing programs allow you to add comments to the document. You can use comments to note changes.

Correctness. Make sure all facts and figures that you include in your report are correct. Even a typo can skewer your facts and ruin the effectiveness of the report.

Conciseness. We tend to be wordy when we write, because we want to make sure we get all our ideas across. When you edit your report, make sure you are stating all the needed information, but in the most concise way possible.

Language, Spelling, and Typos. Even though you probably checked these things already, go through your report again. Bad language or spelling can destroy your credibility and damage the effectiveness of the report. Use a ruler so that only the line you're reading in the report is showing. Look for errors in language and spelling, and punctuation.

Once you're finished going through your report and noting all the changes that need to be made, you are ready to write a second draft. You'll want to edit the second draft just like you did the first. If there are still changes you see that need to be made in a second draft, you'll write a third, and so on.

Getting an Honest Opinion

When you think you're finished with your report, it's time to find someone else to read it. You want to find someone who will give you an honest and objective opinion of your report. The person doesn't need to be familiar with your audience or the topic of your report to review it for you and tell you what changes they would recommend.

Instead, you tell the person you've chosen to review your report exactly what you need them to tell you, such as why you need it reviewed, who your audience will be, what impact you want the report to have, what parts of the report you feel need attention (if you had particular problems with a section), and how soon you need their feedback. You can choose what feedback you want to use and what you want to discard, but the important thing is to get an objective opinion. It may open your eyes to aspects of the report that need clarifying or strengthening.

NOTE: Don't get defensive if the feedback doesn't praise your report as much as you wanted. Remember that the purpose of feedback is to find things wrong with your report, so you can fix it. The purpose of feedback is not to tell you how great you or the report are. Be sure to thank the reviewer for their feedback – even if you disagree with every word of it.

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