Do you spend hours brainstorming and revising your writing while the result is still not up to the standards? It is totally okay! As you will get to know the most successful tips that will help you with the revising process and in improving the quality of your writing.
When to Revise?
Before I teach you the revising strategies, you need to know that when you should begin with the revision process. It starts after you write your essay. You might be thinking that then “what is the difference between editing and revising?” Well, revising comes before editing and proofreading as both processes are used as “second chances” to fix errors such as grammar and spellings. Revising, on the other hand, is when you cut, add, or modify your writing.
The bigger picture
Revision is the most neglected process in writing. The benefits can only be realized after it is used. After you have pinned all your ideas, you can then start with the revision process. By looking at the first draft, you can see if the writing covers the material that was required. You can also check whether the writing addresses the audience for whom it was intended. So always use the revision process to see the bigger picture of whether the original purpose of writing is fulfilled. It will give you a clear idea of the areas that need to be tweaked to make your writing perfect. To see some professional writing, you can check out perfect essays. You will be able to observe how the writing is in line with the topic.
Look for supporting material
The second most important tip is to look for evidence that supports your argument or topic sentence. You must switch from being writer-centered to reader-centered. It means that you will have to detach yourself completely from what you have written. Review the entire piece of writing as if it is someone else’s work. Check if the material relates logically to the idea and does not cause deviation from the main topic. This technique is especially helpful in creative writing revision. You will only include those details that will increase the weight of what you are stating. Now is the time to check if you have contradicted yourself by providing false evidence!
Furthermore, if you have written something that will derail the reader from the actual topic.
Structure and sequencing
Most of the people confuse this tip with proofreading. Adjusting the structure and ensuring coherence should be done in the revision process. It would be best if you rechecked the outline. Make sure that introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs have a flow and are logically sequenced. This stage lets you rethink about the order of your ideas that you thought would go better in the pre-writing phase. Check out the Essay Writing Service to get a better idea about paragraph structure and sequencing.
Correct sentence structure
If you google “how to revise an essay”, you will get a handful of tips regarding it. However, this I must stress upon is the handiest one. This tip will save you time in the editing and proofreading phase where you will be correcting grammar. Look for mistakes such as active, passive voice and order of words. It is essential to take one step a time. If you fix the sentence structures in the revision phase, then you will not have to go through the hassle of fixing extra errors in the editing phase.
Add Details
One of the revision strategies for writing is to go through the writing piece as if you have missed details. Please read the main ideas of your writing and then check the evidence for it. If you have missed any details, then rewrite those paragraphs to support your idea. Sometimes, we miss adjectives that help in the visualization process. A simple example of this can be “There was a grasshopper on the window” versus “There was a green grasshopper on the window”. Look how by adding “green” helped you in visualizing a grasshopper. Adjectives add flesh to your writing. If you have missed details like such, you can add them in the revision process.
Remove unnecessary details
Another benefit you get while revising the writing process is to delete meaningless text. It saves you time in the editing phase as you will not have to adjust your writing by removing text. While writing, many of us do not realize that we repeat words or that there is a redundancy of ideas. There is also the case of deviation from the main topic because ideas keep flowing in your mind while you are writing. The result is a writing piece that is very much different from the purpose that it was written for. It will cause more than just frustration. Your piece might get rejected as a whole. Always remember that staying relevant to the topic is very important in writing. You can see some examples on Panda Scholar that how the writer never goes off-topic and stays relevant.
Use of tools for Revision
I would also recommend you using some online tools to ease the revision process. These tools can be used in later stages too, such as editing. By using these, you get a quick look at your writing style and fill in the gaps.
Grammarly
This app will help you in writing grammatically correct pieces. It also helps you with the sentence structure. It will save the time of going through the entire writing, fixing, and rewriting sentences. Grammarly helps in making your writing much more precise and significant.
Hemingway App
Remember, you were told to remove unnecessary words. Hemingway will cut those words out of your writing and bring it close to perfection. Sentences that are long and confusing are highlighted in yellow. You can then split or shorten them. Complicated and dense sentences will be highlighted in red. Rewrite such sentences as they lose the reader’s attention.
Slick Write
It is a powerful tool that helps in checking grammatical errors, writing style, sentence structure, and the vocabulary that you use. It highlights and underlines that text that has issues in it. You can use this tool in the revision process. You do not need to install or even download this app. It is free and accessible for all.
The revision process is always ignored as people jump straight to editing and proofreading. Due to this, they spend much time in making corrections to their writing in later stages. However, having these points on your fingertips will help you in coming up with a perfect piece of writing.
