The Confident WriterChapter 6:

Revising and Editing Your Essays

“Clutter” by William Zinsser

Every word in an essay should serve a purpose.

Avoid clutter in your essay:Delete extra prepositions

Free up > freeHead up > head

Avoid euphemisms“Put brackets around every component in a

piece of writing that [isn’t] doing useful work.”

How to Revise Your Essay

Think of your first draft as your discovery draft.

Every subsequent draft is a revision in which you are improving:ContentOrganizationStyle

How to Revise Your Essay

Improve the Content What is a generality? How do we improve

general statements?Add content

How do we revise for content?

Read for content. Underline general

words, phrases, statements, etc.

Make notes about where to add content.

Last weekend I had fun with my friends.

Traffic was terrible this weekend.

I saw the worst movie yesterday.

I have very definite opinions about big issues.

How to Revise Your Essay

Achieve Better Organization Have you followed

the direction of development?

Are all 3 parts fulfilling the needed functions?

Make an outline to determine what is there and what needs revising.

How to Revise Your Essay

Sharpen Your Style Style is how you express

yourself in writing. 3 components of style:

Diction Tone Sentence Variety

Determine if your tone is topic-appropriate.

Underline descriptive words—convey tone?!!

Consider list of tone words in Figure 6.2 on pp. 141.

Sentence Variety:

Change it up!

Tone:Sound of the Words

Diction:Word

Choice

Style

Eliminating Surface Errors

Definition Causes

Surface errors are mistakes in:◦ Grammar◦ Punctuation◦ Spelling

Surface errors result from:◦ Inconsistent application

of the rules of Standard English

◦ Careless mistakes that occur when you pay more attention to content than to mechanics

Eliminating Surface Errors

Edit for Grammar, Punctuation, & Spelling

Learn from Your Mistakes

Become aware of the kind of mistakes you make◦ Track your mistakes

Which ones are you making?

How do you fix them? Proofread

◦ Check for correctly punctuated sentences

◦ Check for spelling errors

Use your returned essays to compete the chart in Figure 6.4 on pp. 145.

What trends do you see?

Trim & Tighten Your Writing

Trimming & Tightening means editing to eliminate the following:◦ Wordiness

Why use 2 words when you can use 1?!!

◦ Passive Voice Change passive voice to active voice The subject of the sentence should

perform the action not receive it!◦ Tired Expressions

If you’ve heard it a million times before, it’s a cliché. Leave it out!

Look at Expression to Avoid (Figure 6.5 on pp. 149)

Use Proofreading Strategies

Follow these steps for your final round of editing:

1. Let your ideas incubate.

2. Pace yourself.3. Read backwards.4. Read aloud.5. Use a writer’s

tools.6. Proofread with a

purpose.