Once writers have a full draft of a paper–or, at least, most of a draft–they move onto the review stage, either beginning some revising themselves or requesting a peer review. However, many students get these last steps mixed up, thinking that, after writing one draft of a paper, they should just proofread it and submit it. We would argue that skipping the revising stage is a big mistake!

Before diving into these steps, let’s define them really quickly:

• Revising involves reviewing and making changes to your ideas and organization. Is this piece effective in what you want it to do? Are your ideas developed? Are you meeting your audience’s needs?
• Editing and proofreading are much more zoomed in on your writing, looking at how you construct and organize sentences all the way down to catching your typos. These work best as your very last steps, since you’re not dramatically altering content at this point.

16.1 Revising strategies

16.1.1 Reviewing for purpose

Although you will naturally be reviewing for purpose throughout the entire writing process, you should read through your first complete draft once you have finished it and carefully reconsider all aspects of your essay. As you review for purpose, keep in mind that your paper has to be clear to others, not just to you. Try to read through your paper from the point of view of a member of your targeted audience who is reading your paper for the first time. Make sure you have neither failed to clarify the points your audience will need to have clarified nor overclarified the points your audience will already completely understand.

16.1.2 Questions to guide your revision

Self-questioning is a useful tool when you are in the reviewing process. In anticipation of attaching a writer’s memo to your draft as you send it out for peer or instructor review, reexamine the six elements of the triangle that made up your original statement of purpose (voice, audience, message, tone, attitude, and reception):

• Voice: Does it sound like a real human being wrote this draft? Does my introduction project a clear sense of who I am? Honestly, would someone other than my paid instructor or assigned peer(s) read beyond the first paragraph of this essay?
• Audience: Does my writing draw in a specific set of readers with a catchy hook? Do I address the same audience throughout the essay? If I don’t, am I being intentional about shifting from one audience to another?
• Message: Are my main points strong and clear? Do I have ample support for each of them? Do my supporting details clearly support my main points?
• Tone: Am I using the proper tone given my audience? Is my language too casual or not professional enough? Or is it needlessly formal and stiff sounding? Does my tone stay consistent throughout the draft?
• Attitude: Will my organization make sense to another reader? Does my stance toward the topic stay consistent throughout the draft? If it doesn’t, do I explain the cause of the transformation in my attitude?
• Reception: Is my goal or intent for writing clear? How is this essay likely to be received? What kind of motivation, ideas, or emotions will this draft draw out of my readers? What will my readers do, think, or feel immediately after finishing this essay?

16.2 Giving and responding to feedback

In many situations, you will be asked to complete a peer review with classmates over your essays. Even if you’re not required to exchange drafts with a peer, a fresh set of eyes makes a world of difference, so we recommend you find a classmate or friend and ask them to look over your draft. In other cases, your instructor may be giving ungraded but evaluative commentary on your draft. Whatever the system, before you post or trade your draft for review, it helps to do a quick round of revision on your draft so your reviewer can give you the most helpful advice to reach your piece’s goals. Consider preparing a descriptive outline showing how the essay actually turned out and comparing that with your original plan, or consider writing a brief narrative describing how the essay developed from idea to execution. Finally, include any other questions or concerns you have about your draft, so that your peer reader(s) or instructor can give you useful, tailored feedback. These reflective statements and documents could be attached with your draft as part of a writer’s memo. Remember, the more guidance you give your readers, regardless of whether they are your peers or your instructor, the more they will be able to help you.

When you receive suggestions for content changes from your instructors, try to put aside any tendencies to react defensively, so that you can consider their ideas for revisions with an open mind. In college settings, instructors often prefer to intervene most extensively after you have completed a first draft, with evaluative commentary that tends to be suggestive, forward-looking, and free of a final quantitative judgment (like a grade). You’re supposed to do something with this sort of commentary, not just read it as the justification for a (nonexistent) grade.

Sometimes peers think they’re supposed to “sound like an English teacher” so they fall into the trap of “correcting” (proofreading) your draft, but in most cases, the prompts used in college- level peer reviewing discourage that sort of thing. In many situations, your peers will give you ideas that will add value to your paper, and you will want to include them. In other situations, your peers’ ideas will not really work into the plan you have for your paper. It is not unusual for peers to offer ideas that you may not want to implement. Remember, your peers’ ideas are only suggestions, and it is your essay, and you are the person who will make the final decisions. If your peers happen to be a part of the audience to which you are writing, they can sometimes give you invaluable ideas. And if they’re not, take the initiative to find outside readers who might actually be a part of your audience.

When you are reviewing a peer’s essay, try to locate revising tasks rather than editing and proofreading tasks–that’s where your feedback will be most valuable. You could adopt the Describe-Evaluate-Suggest framework described by Professor Bill Hart-Davidson: describe what you see in the draft; evaluate how it meets the goals and needs of the assignment; make suggestions that help the piece reach those goals.

16.3 Editing and Proofreading

Although you might think editing and proofreading isn’t necessary since you were fairly careful when you were writing, the truth is that even the very brightest people and best writers make mistakes when they write. One of the main reasons that you are likely to make mistakes is that your mind and fingers are not always moving along at the same speed nor are they necessarily in sync, so what ends up on the page isn’t always exactly what you intended. A second reason is that, as you make changes and adjustments, you might not totally match up the original parts and revised parts. Finally, a third key reason for proofreading is because you likely have errors you typically make and proofreading gives you a chance to correct those errors.

Editing and proofreading can work well with a partner. You can offer to be another pair of eyes for peers in exchange for their doing the same for you. Another strategy (which involves a bit of foresight) is to give yourself “fresh eyes” on the paper: take a break from writing it–maybe a day or two–and then look at it with fresh eyes. You could also print the paper to change it up from reading on a screen, or use speech-to-text to have your paper read aloud and catch awkward phrasings or grammatical mistakes.

As you edit and proofread, you should look for common problem areas that stick out. There are certain writing rules that you must follow, but other more stylistic writing elements are more subjective and will require judgment calls on your part.

Be proactive in evaluating these subjective, stylistic issues since failure to do so can weaken the potential impact of your essay. Keeping the following questions in mind as you edit and proofread will help you notice and consider some of those subjective issues:

• At the word level: Am I using descriptive words? Am I varying my word choices rather than using the same words over and over? Am I using active verbs? Am I writing concisely? Does every word in each sentence perform a function?
• At the sentence level: Am I using a variety of sentence beginnings? Am I using a variety of sentence formats? Am I using ample and varied transitions? Does every sentence advance the value of the essay?
• At the paragraph and essay level: How does this essay look? Am I using paragraphing and paragraph breaks to my advantage? Are there opportunities to make this essay work better visually? Are the visuals I’m already using necessary? Am I using the required formatting (or, if there’s room for creativity, am I using the optimal formatting)? Is my essay the proper length?