Revising and Editing

REVISING AND EDITING WORKSHEET

All page numbers refer to the corresponding pages in the Scott-Foresman Handbook. see pp. 72-84 of Scott-Foresman for another version of this worksheet

Read the introduction pp. 166-170: What needs to be added to grab the audience's attention?; What background information needs to be added?; Is the thesis argumentative? How might it be made stronger?
Just read the topic sentences (beginning of each paragraph) pp. 147-48: Does each topic sentence have a clear connection to the thesis?; Does each topic sentence have a clear argument?; How might each topic sentence be made stronger?
Read quickly through the paper for organization pp. 37-45: How is the paper developed? That is, what organizational strategies are used?; If you cannot describe the organization, what organizational strategies might work? How might the paper be reorganized?; Where might transitions be added to make the connections between the paragraphs clearer? pp. 181-83
Read each paragraph for content.: What information does not support the topic sentence?; Where should examples be added?; Where should explanations be added?; Where is more supporting evidence needed?
Read each paragraph for organization pp. 148-62: Are any paragraphs too long or too short for easy reading? If so, where could long paragraphs be broken up? What short paragraphs might be combined?; Is each idea within the paragraph covered before moving onto the next idea, or does it jump around? If the latter, how might it be reorganized?; Does each idea logically follow from what precedes it? If not, how should the paragraph be reorganized? Or what needs to be added to show the logic? Or will a transition solve the problem?
Documentation and Quotes pp. 566-82: What information needs to be documented?; Where should attribution be added to make the documentation clearer or to help support the argument or to help the sentence flow?; What direct and indirect borrowings still need to be introduced in some way? pp. 575-76; Check each piece of information against the source and make sure that any direct words from the source are put in quotes.; Where should paraphrase be used instead of quotes? pp. 571-75; Where does the documentation format need to be fixed? pp. 591ff.
Transitions pp. 177-86: Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Where might transitions be added to make the connections between the paragraphs clearer?; Read the individual paragraphs and identify where a new idea begins. Where should a transition be added to make the movement to a new idea clearer?; What other transitions need to be added to guide the reader?
Conclusion pp. 173-75: Does the conclusion effectively summarize and tie together any loose ends from the paper? If not, what needs to be added?; Does the conclusion leave the reader with a sense of why this argument was important? If not, what might be added or what strategy might the writer use?
Style pp. 189-97
Describe the style which is the convention for your discipline.
Read through the paper.: What words are inappropriate / too informal? What words need to be defined?; What definitions or background information could be eliminated because you can assume the audience has this knowledge?
Wordiness: Circle any "there is/are" or "It is/are" or other such padded constructions. These should be eliminated.; Circle all passive voice. Attempt to eliminate as much of it as possible. pp. 224-25; Look for any sentences with more than two prepositions. Circle the prepositions. Attempt to eliminate them.