Writing and Editing: What Is the Difference?

Curated from: thoughtco.com

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Revising a paper

Revision starts once you have a finished first draft of your paper. As you reread what you have written, you might notice a few places where the wording does not seem to flow quite as well as the rest of your work. You may decide to change a few words or add a sentence or two. Work through your arguments and make sure you have evidence to back them up. This is also the time to make sure you have established a thesis and have kept your focus on that throughout your paper.

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Tips for Revision

Give yourself time between writing the first draft and looking at it again for revision. A few hours can give you enough time to see it with fresh eyes that are more likely to spot trouble areas.
Read your paper out loud. Sometimes speaking the words helps you get a better feel for the flow of a paper.
Do not worry about the editing yet. Get the big ideas down and leave the details for later.
Make sure your paper is organized in a logical way. Make your thesis statement and follow it up with arguments, quotes, and evidence in a way that makes your purpose clear.

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Editing a paper

It happens once you have a draft you are confident in as a whole. In this process, you are going to look for the details that may have slipped by you during the writing process. Spelling errors are often caught by spellcheck but do not trust this tool to catch everything. Word usage is also a common problem to catch in editing. Is there a word you use repetitively? Or did you write there when you meant their? Details like this seem small on an individual basis, but as they pile up they can distract your reader.

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Things to Look for When Editing

Look for spelling and capitalization errors that your editing software may have missed.
Punctuation can make a big impact on how your paper flows. It creates a rhythm that can completely make or break a paper.
Fact-check yourself. Did you cite your quotes and sources properly?
Don’t be afraid to let a friend or colleague look at it with unfamiliar eyes. Sometimes you know your material so well that your brain automatically fills in blanks or sees what you meant, rather than what you said. Someone seeing the work for the first time might catch things you didn’t.

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IDEAS CURATED BY

Emma

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Aspiring creative writer. I like spicy food and good people.

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