Ask yourself this, "do I feel self conscious about my writing? My grammar and mechanics may not be perfect, but what are other people saying about my writing? How does my unedited writing affect me as a person?" Submitting the first draft of an essay or other types of written work is one thing, but turning in a final, polished, clean, error free piece of work is another. In the world of academia and the professional world, many writers fail to take the necessary steps that are required to submit a final polished piece of writing. Moreover, many writers fail to understand the necessity of submitting perfected writing in the professional and academic world, especially when texting and e-mailing becomes one of our dominant means of communication. Texting and e-mailing allows people to use short cuts with words and the mechanics of sentence structure, and this notion makes writers forget the true art of communication through standard English writing. Turning in a final and properly edited piece of writing reflects positively on the writer and the reader. The positive effects for the writer are professional and educational acknowledgement. The truth is, there are people out there who do judge a person by his or her writing. And if there are many errors and poor sentence structure, then the writer may not be taken seriously as a writer or as a person. As bad as that sounds, we do live in a world of judgment. You could have the highest education or no education at all, but if you take time to edit your work, I promise the results will be beneficial. Moreover, the positive effect that a final, clean, edited piece of writing has on the reader is this: it allows the reader to subconsciously take in grammar and mechanics, which then helps that reader become a better writer, and if that reader becomes a better writer, then that person's writing will become more edited, which will have the same effect for other readers who will become writers. The results will be a chain reaction of writers who edit their work for professional and academic purposes, and writers who will feel more confident in themselves. Follow these four to five steps of properly editing your writing before submission, and I promise you that your writing will improve, and your writing will help other writers become better writers.
Instructions
01.The first thing that you should do to properly edit your work is tell yourself, "I need to take time to re-read my own work at least 3 times for a perfected final copy." The first reading will be for global organization and content. The second time that you read your own work will be for grammatical and mechanical errors. The third time that you read your work will be for on final polishing (catching all loose ends).
02Your first reading is for global organization and content. In this step, you want to take time to read each paragraph, and while reading each paragraph, you want ask you self these types of questions:
1. Does my introduction have a clear thesis or idea of what I am writing about?
2. Do I treat each paragraph with the same length of sentences?
3. Is one paragraph shorter or longer then the other? (All your paragraphs should be treated with equal length give or take a sentence or two).
4. In each body paragraph, do I follow through with my main idea(s) or thesis?
5. In each body paragraph, do I have enough clear and specific examples that support and/or demonstrate my main idea(s) or thesis?
6. In each body paragraph, do I stay 100% on topic, or do I go off on a tangent?
7. Does my conclusion sum up my entire piece of writing?
8. Am I being too redundant; am I repeating my self?
After this first reading, be sure to go back and add the things you need and take out the things that you do not need to make your writing organized with great content.
03.After fixing your draft and being fully satisfied with the content and organization, your second reading should focus on grammar and mechanics. Grammar and mechanics is separate from content and organization. Great grammar and mechanics allows your readers to fully understand what it is that you are trying to say through your writing. In this step, you want to take time to read each sentence one at a time. When you are doing this second reading, ask yourself these types of questions:
1. Does my sentence make a complete sentence, meaning does my sentence have a subject and a verb?
2. Is my sentence a fragment?
3. Is my sentence a run-on?
4. Does my sentence have proper spelling?
5. Does my subject agree with my verb in my sentence?
6. Do my tenses (past, present, future) line up and make sense in each sentence?
7. Is my sentence too wordy? (Always limit wordy sentences)
8. Does my sentence use proper punctuation?
9. Does my sentence use proper word choice?
10. Does my sentence make sense?
If you are unfamiliar with some of these terms or rules, that is no problem. There are two texts that I highly, highly, highly, recommend for all writers. The first book is called, English Brushup by John Langan and Janet M. Goldstein. The other text is called, The Writer's World: editing handbook by Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke. Both of these books are excellent for helping all writers understand and learn the standard rules of English, and they provide excellent explanation and examples of the rules. You can find these books on Amazon.com, or Barnes and Nobles, or Borders, etc.
04.After your second reading and fixing all the grammatical and mechanical errors, take time to do a third reading to tie up all loose ends. In this reading, read for global organization and content, and also read for any overlooked grammatical and mechanical errors. While doing this third reading, simply ask yourself:
1. What were my main weaknesses while doing my first and second reading?
2. What were my most commonly found errors?
After discovering those weaknesses, be sure to pay particular attention to those weaknesses during this third reading.
05.The final step is to possibly have a second experienced writer read over your work before submitting it. A second eye usually can catch things that our own eyes did not catch. But if you do the 3 above steps, chances are this second eye will find minimal errors. Either way, you are ready for the submission of a nice piece of writing for either professional purposes or academic purposes, and that allows you to feel free.
