Once you finish writing a piece of work, the next step is to edit it. The content is there, but now it must flow and make sense. On some occasions, you’ll be given the opportunity to have your work edited by a peer, but other times the job of editing comes down to you. Yet, how do you go about editing a work you are familiar with? After the easy spelling and grammar corrections, it may be difficult to find ways to improve your own work. Below are some tips you can use when editing your writing.
In order to edit your work adequately and have a well-written final piece, you need to give yourself enough time to go through at least two rounds of reading—once for major corrections and changes, and a second time to check things over. This will only be possible if you finish writing early; if you are rushing to finish the actual content, you will not be able to make meaningful edits. Even if you manage to have enough time for one quick proofread, it is quite likely that you may miss some errors due to the pressure of meeting the deadline. Everyone works differently, but try to allocate at least ten minutes of your time at the end of a writing test or a minimum of half an hour for assignments towards editing. Bear in mind that editing a piece with a word limit may take longer!
Ideally, if time permits, at least three rounds of edits can result in major improvements. Firstly, you will want to read over your work to catch errors in the writing. This includes spelling, grammar, and content mistakes. The best way to become aware of such errors is to read your work aloud. Doing so will make it less likely to miss any mistakes and will also help you identify issues with sentence structure, flow, and repetition, which will be useful for your second round of edits.
Now that you have fixed technical errors, you can focus on the quality of your writing. This encompasses details such as word choice, flow, and concision. Varying your choice of words helps avoid repetition and makes for stronger writing, but that does not mean you should use just any word you find in the thesaurus! Attempting to make your writing sound sophisticated will not necessarily improve the quality of your work—it may, in fact, do the opposite. Be sure you check the definitions of any new words you are using to ensure that they best express what you wish to say. Additionally, use transition words and sentences to allow your writing to seamlessly flow between ideas. This will help you address the issue of whether your writing makes sense. Primarily, you want readers to receive the message or answer you are trying to convey through your writing. To edit your work accordingly, you may want to try reading your writing from the perspective of your audience. Will they understand the content, or do you need to include additional context and explanation? Throughout this second round of edits, remember to keep the reader’s perspective in mind, especially when it comes to removing sentences or ideas to conform to a word limit. Try to be concise so that readers will have an easy time comprehending your thoughts and ideas.
After completing the bulk of edits, proofread your work one last time to see if the new additions to your writing make sense and are free of errors. Keep an eye out for instances of repetition in case you accidentally added something you already said before. These tips were organized based on a method of three rounds of reading and editing, but do not hesitate to repeat the process multiple times if necessary! After all, everyone writes differently, and what works for some may not work for everyone.
Edited by Riwa Amam.
Rida Zainab is a grade 11 student in the IB programme at Milliken Mills High School. Her favourite subject is English, and she likes to spend her free time reading and writing.
Comments