Editing Your Work

It’s crucial that you edit and revise your writing before you turn in a final version to your instructor. Keep the following steps in mind as you review what you’ve written.

• Reread the assignment and evaluate your thesis. Make sure that you’ve addressed every part of the question you’ve been assigned and that you have an original, interesting thesis statement that doesn’t just repeat the question.

• Look at your topic sentences. Make sure that your transitions are clear and that the first sentence of each paragraph gives a clear idea of what that paragraph is about. Strong topic sentences make your essay as a whole seem coherent.

• Read carefully for grammar and spelling errors. Pay particular attention to verbs and make sure you’ve used the active voice. Watch out also for subject/verb agreement, modifier usage, and parallelism.

• Tighten up your sentences. If you have time, scrutinize every sentence in your essay to make sure it doesn’t contain any more words than absolutely necessary. If you find choppy or repetitive sentences, try to combine them with other sentences or restructure them.

• Look for specific details and language, if you have time. If you find any generalities, unsupported claims, or vague usage of words, add specificity and additional evidence as needed.