What’s the difference between Editing, Revising, and Proofreading?

© Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006 “REP” Steps: You revise to add missing ideas and content to your paper. You edit your paper to look for grammar and punctuation errors. You proofread your paper to make sure your error free. Revising Drafts © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

Don’t worry about any of it when writing Work on content and organization in the first drafts: Just get all of your thoughts and content down in your first draft. Postpone editing and revising for later. Don't use your time and energy on careful editing for spelling, grammar, and choice of the right words because you’ll probably change it anyway. Just write!

When you think your done… After the first draft, ask yourself: Have I covered all of my information? (Return to your outline or graphic organizer and make sure you have actually developed all your major ideas.) Have I followed all directions? Do I have a conclusion? In the first draft did you… omit the main point of a passage? omit transitions from one section or idea to the next? omit essential information, or give too much needless detail? omit context or background information? repeat information?

As you revise, ask yourself: To revise is to move the text around so that the order is logical delete unnecessary information add essential information As you revise, ask yourself: Have I introduced main points before detail? Are the details complete and correct? Did I add transitions between arguments, events, between paragraphs, and between sections?

Checklist for Revising Copy This: Delete any word, phrase, sentence whose loss does not change the force or meaning Replace unnecessary or unclear words or ideas Look for ambiguous phrases and unnecessary repetition Use active voice instead passive voice: “I rode the bike.” not “The bike was ridden by me.” All of my information is in the proper order All items described thoroughly using precise language I included all required parts, elements, details I re-read and followed all directions

Edit before Proofreading At this point (after revision), all important ideas should be in your paper and in the correct order: Run the spell checker. Manually search for spelling errors that the spell checker did not catch. (Don’t use contractions) See if you can shorten sentences: avoid needless words and Run-ons. Check for paragraph length and unity. Do you have one idea to a paragraph?

Edit before Proofreading Check for grammatical lapses: subject-verb agreement “They is having a party tonight.” misplaced modifiers “Marcy saw the dog drinking a cocktail” pronoun-antecedent agreement “Steve is saving her sandwich for lunch.” tense switch: story past tense with present tense verbs

Edit before Proofreading Check for stylistic touches. remove redundant expressions My mom told me to clean my room. “Clean your room!” She yelled. vary overused words strengthen vague verbs Check for word choice- use a thesaurus

Proofread last Print an unmarked copy of the manuscript. Proofread when your at your intellectual peak: reserve a block of several hours, and sit down and carefully read without interruption. Ask a friend to proofread your manuscript. Run the spell checker and grammar check again (use online sources like Grammarly to help you!).

Strategies for Successive Drafts Clear your mind! Let the document rest for a few hours or days before you revise for organization. Work a section at a time in the first drafts. It avoids your getting bogged down by trying to think about too much at once. Try to work on one section at one sitting.