| The Super Big Picture | | | | mistakes. If you've been told, or you know, that |
| Give it time to breath. Like a fine wine, you need to | | | | you use the passive voice often, attempt to not |
| let it air out a bit, before critiquing the bouquet, or | | | | make those mistakes again. Same to be said on |
| whatever they call it. Attempt to give yourself a | | | | any other errors you make. You may want to |
| day or two before jumping back in. If you're like | | | | consider keeping an error log, so you can review it |
| me, then you wrote this puppy the day before it | | | | often and fix the problem before they're made |
| was due. If that's the case, at least take an hour | | | | Get rid of wordiness or complex expressions. If you |
| break and do nothing academic before revising and | | | | can say "because" instead of "due to the fact that", |
| editing | | | | then say it. Concise writing is good writing. Here |
| Now, you wanna read it out loud. This will help you | | | | are some common wordy expression: |
| pick up on any major stumbling blocks, such as tense | | | | Due to the fact that / because |
| consistency (past, present, future). It also allows | | | | Is able to / can |
| you to hear and see the work, instead of just using | | | | In the event that / if |
| your eyes. This is easily the most important and | | | | At the present time / Now |
| easiest tip you can do | | | | Have a tendency to / Usually |
| Next up, make sure the thesis statement is easy to | | | | Had a discussion / Discussed |
| find and easy to understand. Ask yourself these | | | | Made a decision / Decided |
| questions: Does my thesis answer a question or | | | | |
| assert an opinion? Do my supporting paragraphs, | | | | Punch up your writing with the ACTIVE VOICE and |
| including each paragraph's topic sentence, relate | | | | not the passive voice. The best way to understand |
| directly to my thesis? Is the organization logical? | | | | this concept is through examples. An easy rule is to |
| Answering these questions, early on in the edition | | | | try and not use various forms of the verb "to be". |
| process, will greatly decrease the craziness of editing | | | | Take a gander: |
| and revising you paper. (Bonus Tip: One way to | | | | Active voice is when the subject is the agent or |
| check the organization is to write your thesis down | | | | actor of action |
| and then all of your topic sentences. This way, you | | | | The cat ate the mouse ("cat" as subject, "ate" being |
| can see how they relate to each other, without all | | | | active) |
| the other words getting in the way) | | | | Passive voice is when the subject is being acted |
| Try to read it again, out loud, but this time as if | | | | upon |
| you're the reader. The key to a good essay is to | | | | The mouse was eaten by the cat ("was eaten" is |
| always keep your reader in mind. Have good | | | | passive) |
| knowledge of your audience will allow you to make | | | | |
| decisions, like how much background information is | | | | Do whatever possible to avoid phrases like "It is" and |
| needed on what others would consider common | | | | "There are" when you can say it differently. For |
| knowledge. | | | | instance, "It is a fact that American's enjoy soda |
| | | | | pop" can just as easily be phrased as "A fact is that |
| Understand the power in your choice of words. | | | | American's enjoy soda pop" or "American's enjoy |
| There are differences in the meanings of different | | | | soda pop". There is no need to stretch phrases out |
| words, and figuring out the right one is key to | | | | more than needed. |
| getting your point across. Here are two sentences | | | | |
| that take on different levels of meaning: | | | | Be careful of clichés, colloquialisms, idioms, and the |
| - The Obama administration has been criticized for its | | | | like. If the person reading your paper doesn't |
| response to the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico | | | | understand the phrase, it will only serve to confuse. |
| - Lately the Obama administration has been criticized | | | | Cliché - Overused expression like "live and learn" or |
| for its response to the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico | | | | "stay the course" |
| - The media as been reporting various amounts of | | | | Colloquialisms - a common spoken expression, often |
| criticism towards the Obama Administration and their | | | | regional. Examples include "more than one way to |
| handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill | | | | skin a cat" or calling all soft drinks by the name |
| | | | | "Coke" or "y'all" |
| The Small Sentence and Word Picture | | | | Idioms - Phrases that are not to be taken literally, like |
| One of the hardest aspects of sentence and word | | | | "he runs like the wind" or "break a leg" |
| level editing is not getting missing the typos and | | | | |
| word choice errors you have made. By the time | | | | Make sure you have a variety of sentences. Some |
| you get down to this level of editing, you have | | | | should be short. Others should be long, winding |
| probably read the piece over and over, and it is easy | | | | down a stream of happiness, waiting for another |
| to not see those errors. Here are some tips and | | | | drop of water to refresh itself. Don't work about |
| strategies to get at those annoying little ants of | | | | too much variety; variety, itself, is the spice of life. |
| errors. | | | | And yes, that was one big example of variety |
| Read the essay with a piece of paper or ruler, | | | | capped of with a horrible cliché. |
| focusing on one line at a time, looking for spelling, | | | | A great trick to check on spelling, in addition to the |
| grammar, and word choice errors | | | | horrible spell checker of MS Word, is to read the |
| Reading out loud is another strategy. You will pick | | | | paper backwards, each line, from right to left. |
| up on punctuation errors and the flow of your | | | | There is nothing worse than giving the poor |
| sentence structure | | | | impression that you can't follow college level |
| | | | | instructions - to turn in a paper without spelling errors. |
| Another aspect of good editing is to learn from your | | | | |