Tips for Editing Your Own Work

The one thing about editing a work, whether you wrote it or it is another's work, is that many people seem to have their own process. Yes, they have a basic outline of steps to complete the edit. How they take those steps differs from person to person. Below I share the process of editing that I use. You may be able to add some of my tricks to yours.

The first thing I always do is read the entire work and check for spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. I follow this up by writing a sentence complete summary of the work. If it is a lengthy work, the check for a proper sequence and make sure the paragraphs complement one another as it is presented to the reader. The next thing I ask myself is "Does work set out to do what it was intended to do?" If the work is explaining something, did it cover all the aspects of what it was designed to explain? I then go back through each paragraph and make sure there is enough context for the reader to grasp the goal of each paragraph. My next step is to look for overuse or repetition in each paragraph. I find this to be a frequent problem and some writer's are very prone to have this habit. I look back at my original one-sentence summary and make sure every paragraph supports that statement.

Editing and revising your own work sounds like a complex task especially after investing hours into writing a document. However, you cannot get away with proofreading and editing at any cost unless you have a professional for this purpose. It takes time and a lot of practice to edit a document flawlessly, but remember it's worth it. Below are a few simple ways to remove errors from your work.

Take a Small Break

Never start editing your work right after you have finished writing unless there are time constraints. This is because by that time your eyes are tired and it becomes difficult to find errors. Take a small break to rejuvenate yourself. Start editing when you feel your energy level is good enough to work.

Print it Out

Never rely on technology to edit your work. Screens tend to make your eyes feel tired; therefore, you are unable to give the right amount of time to it. It's always the best to print your work and highlight the mistakes with a bright colored pen or a highlighter.

Read it Aloud

Read your writing aloud once you are done with it. Doing this helps you to identify problematic areas in your writing. Also, if you find yourself getting stuck in several places, then it means your writing does not have a good flow. In addition to this, this will also help you figure out the content and tone are appropriate for the intended audience.

Don't Show Leniency

Simply imagine that it's not you, but your examiner checking your work. Don't even let go of minor spelling mistakes. Correct each error immediately to speed up the process.

Use Grammar Correcting Software

Technology has made everything infinite times easier than in previous times. There are multiple grammar check websites and apps. Grammarly is the most recommended software for this purpose. It detects issues in spellings, sentence structures, punctuation and grammar.

Attaining utter perfection in any written work is the ultimate desire of every writer. This perfection is required not only in terms of the storyline and topic of the book or how it is being addressed, but also encompassing the most minor aspects of a work too. For example, how flawless the sentence structure is and how much attention has been paid to the spellings and grammar in the text.

No matter how interesting a work is or with how much care the author has written it, it can never achieve perfection unless it has been revised, edited for flaws, and rewritten in some parts before it is finally published. An author spends a lot of time on his work after finishing it to edit, rewrite, and revise it.

Here are a few tips to do all these actions the easier and faster way:

Highlight and Mark While You Are Writing for the First Time

The process of editing, rewriting, and revision must be in your mind even when you are writing the work for the very first time. While writing in flow, you are sure to encounter many points in your writing that you think can be made better afterwards. This may include a vague word choice, a complex sentence structure, and unnecessarily long paragraph, or anything else. It is better to keep on highlighting all these flaws with different colors so that while you sit to edit your work, you know what to do first.

Think as a Reader

When you are reading your own work to make it better, try reading by putting yourself in the reader's shoes. Search for the place where they can find it hard to understand the text and edit according to their needs.

How to Spot Mistakes in Grammar?

It is very important to use correct grammar in any type of writing. Academic writing especially requires you to pay immense focus on grammatical correctness. Mistakes of grammar in any writing depict the naïve-ness of a person. It shows that the writer does not have excellent command over the language. It can also damage their credibility. Hence, it is essential to make sure that you spot every grammatical error in your piece of writing. Here are a few common grammatical errors that you can spot in your writing before submitting it.

The subject-verb agreement

This is one of the most common grammar mistakes that is made by students. The subject-verb agreement is a necessity for a sentence. They both should agree and complement each other. If the subject of the sentence is singular, then the verb should also be singular. If the subject of the sentence is plural, the verb should also be plural. You can spot this mistake by reading the sentence and identifying the subject and verb. After that, notice if both are agreeing and complimenting each other in terms of singularity or plurality.

Missing Commas

A comma is an important element of English grammar. It enables the reader to distinguish between different parts of the sentence. It helps a lot in making sense of the sentence. Check for missing commas in the sentence. There should be a comma after an introductory phrase, word or clause.

Missing Apostrophe

One of the most common grammatical mistakes is that people often tend to forget to use an apostrophe in "its". An apostrophe should be used with "it's" if the word means "it is" or "it has".

The Process of Revising Your Own Work

The revision of any work is very important because anyone can make mistakes when they start writing at first. Here is the process through which you can revise your own work.

Read Aloud

When you are done writing your first draft and want to eliminate any errors from it, the first step that you can take is to read aloud the entire passage. By reading it out loud to yourself, you will realize what your work actually sounds like. This process will highlight any mistakes for you. You will get to know the errors that you made in the sentence structure. It will also tell you if you have used any wrong choice of words. You can edit all the mistakes when you are done reading it out loud.

Use Spell Check

Any written piece should be free of any spelling mistakes. This is because spelling mistakes can make the draft look very casual and unprofessional. Such mistakes can ruin the credibility of the writer. It is very easy to get rid of the spelling mistakes that are present in your written piece. You can run your draft through a spell check. It will let you know what words you have spelled wrong. It will also correct the mistakes for you.

Look For Grammatical Errors

After the spell check, come the grammatical errors. Grammatical errors can cause a lot of problems in your essay. Such mistakes can cause a lot of confusion in your draft. You can read your draft again and again to spot any mistakes in the usage tenses. Punctuation should also be perfect so that the information can be smoothly presented for the readers. You can run a grammar check a couple of times to ensure that your draft is free of any errors.

The Steps to Writing Revisions

Writing process involves many steps. Revision is the third and the most important step of this whole process. In this step, writers take a final look at the work created by them after which they revise it, alter it, and review it for weak points if any. No writer can pass on his or her work to someone else without revising it since it is a very important step in the process of writing. The revision stage is sometimes summed up in A.R.R.R approach which stands for adding, rearranging, removing, replacing. This approach is discussed in detail below:

Adding

In this step, you as a writer will look for the: information gaps, missing data, facts, and figures and will fill these gaps. One good tip is to go back to your prewriting notes and verify if all the headings and relevant information are being added. One good technique is to ask your friend to read your writing work, ask him or her for mistakes and other things that can confuse the reader.

Rearranging

While going through your writing, you may need to rearrange sections or paragraphs. If your writing lacks in the beginning but packs a punch at the end, you need to rearrange it. Rearranging paragraphs is also done for a better flow of arguments.

Removing

While revising, you may find some irrelevant information that is not according to the thesis statement and is confusing the reader. Such type of information must be removed during revision. In other cases, when you exceed the word count, unnecessary information should be removed. Unfamiliar words that are not adding any meaning to the content should also be removed.

Replacing

Some sentences or paragraphs that are not constructed appropriately must be replaced with accurate ones during revision. Replacing is also done if you want to add important information in place of an ambiguous one.