How to Revise a Rough Draft

Writing a rough draft helps you clarify your ideas for yourself. Revising a rough draft clarifies your ideas for others.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dictionaries
• Thesauri
• Red Pens
• Spiral Notebooks

1. Make sure that the paper topic is focused and specific.

2. Review the thesis statement. Is it clear and precise? Does it firmly establish the aim of the paper?

3. Look at the individual paragraphs of the paper. Make sure the topic of each paragraph is clear and the paragraph's goal is accomplished. Give adequate examples, quotations and explanations to reinforce arguments.

4. Ask yourself whether each paragraph is effective. If it is not, figure out why. If the paragraph is too short, perhaps it should be cut from the paper. If it's too long, maybe it needs to be reworked or split it into more than one paragraph.

5. Number the paragraphs in order from weakest to strongest argument. The paper should build toward its conclusion and end strongly.

6. Ask yourself whether the general purpose of the paper has been accomplished by the time you reach the end.

7. Go back and look at the smaller, basic elements of the paper, such as grammar, style and syntax. Check for run-on sentences, sentence fragments and errors in grammar and spelling.

8. Make sure paragraphs and sentences flow well. The transition from one paragraph to the next should be clear, yet fluid. Combine or shorten sentences when necessary.

9. Find an alternate way of expressing any word or phrase that is overused. Use a thesaurus.

10. Make sure all references to research materials are correctly cited.

Tips & Warnings

• Write your revisions and corrections in a color that stands out, such as red or green.
• After revising the body of the paper, consider rewriting the opening and closing paragraphs so that they better reflect the content of the paper.
• Have someone else proofread your paper before you turn it in.

Who Can Help Sponsored

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on 11/22/2005 When it comes time to edit your sentence structure and grammar, read your essay backward. You become adjusted to reading your essay and overlook mistakes. Start at the last sentence, look at the sentence as a whole, then move on to the second to last sentence, and so on. By looking at your essay out of order, you will catch more mistakes. Good Luck!

on 11/22/2005 You can have a professional proofreader check your paper quickly and for a reasonable fee by going to wehaveproof.com.

on 11/22/2005 Make sure that you proofread. Nothing spoils a great paper more than incorrect grammer and misspelled words. Even if you wrote the paper yourself, you might not be able to spot a typo, so have someone proofread it for you.

on 11/22/2005 Ask someone else to read your paper (maybe a relative or friend who won't mind). Ask them if it makes sense. If you have no one else to read your paper, try reading it yourself on the "fresh head" the next day. You need a second opinion.