Revising & Editing in Stages
- 1. A REVISING PROCESS REVISING & EDITING
- 2. STRUCTURE • Introduction • Thesis Statement (last sentence of Intro) • Assertion • 3 sub-topics • 3 Body Paragraphs - TEST • Topic sentences contain sub-topic keywords & connect back to thesis • Summary statements contain keywords & connect back to thesis • Conclusion • Rephrase thesis statement (first sentence of Conclusion)
- 3. THESIS STATEMENT • Assertion • Main idea/ topic • What is your message about your topic? • Avoid be verbs. What do you want to say other than that they exist? • 3 sub-topics • 3 keywords or key phrases • How do these relate to your assertion? • Ideally, these are in the same order as body paragraphs.
- 4. CONTENT • Introduction • Capture reader’s attention/ give background info • Ease reader into thesis • Body Paragraphs • Minimum 8 sentences each • Minimum 3 substantial pieces of Evidence • Are three body paragraphs balanced in quantity of evidence? (Check visual space) • Does each sentence support your topic sentence and thesis? • Conclusion • Answer the “So what?” • Broad, global application of message
- 5. BASIC REQUIREMENTS • Follow MLA Format • Heading • Last name & page numbers • Correct spacing • In-text citations & Works Cited • No Contractions! • No 2nd person “you” • No 1st person “ I” • No “I think,” “I believe,” “In my opinion” • No “In summary,” “In conclusion” • No abbreviations. If necessary, be sure to introduce properly.
- 6. READ ALOUD • Does it make sense to you? • Does it make sense to someone else? • Have someone else summarize for you to check understanding. • Is your argument logically sound? • Does it flow?
- 7. LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT • Look for vague, ineffective words. Replace them with specific, descriptive words. • Eliminate or reduce these: • be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) • get, go, have, do • things & stuff • people, -one, -body, -where • Change passive verbs to active verbs. • Check lists for parallelism.
- 8. SENTENCE STRUCTURE • Isolate each sentence (Read aloud backwards) • Is it a sentence? • Is it a fragment? Run-on? Comma splice? Fused sentence? • Is it a compound sentence? Is it a complex sentence? • What is the subject? What is the verb? • Do the subject and verb agree?
- 9. MECHANICS • Capitalization • End punctuation • Spelling • Word choice • Pronoun-antecedent agreement!!! • Commas