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Writing Support

Revising Your Writing

Rewriting focuses on the larger parts of your paper such as introduction, conclusion and body paragraphs. When you rewrite, you might be adding or deleting new paragraphs, reordering the paragraphs you have, or changing your thesis statement to match the rest of your paper. 

Tips:

  • Read over your paper as a whole from start to finish. Focus on whether your paragraphs all support your thesis statement. Note any sections that seem to be off topic. 
  • Read each paragraph individually, starting at your conclusion and working back. Check to see if each paragraph supports its topic sentence. 

Editing looks at paragraph and sentence level concerns and helps ensure your writing flows well. Check out our page on common grammar errors for help on how to fix your sentences. 

Tips:

  • Start by reading each paragraph out loud in a normal speaking voice. Reading it out loud to a friend, family member or even a pet can help you at this stage. If you stumble over a sentence, mark it to review after. 
  • Review the marked sentences looking for grammatical errors, wordiness and confusing language. 
  • After errors are found and corrected, add in transitional words and phrases to make your writing smooth and easy to read. 

Proofreading is the last step of the revising process, and it involves looking at individual words, punctuation, and formatting to find typos and mistakes. 

Tips:

  • The best way to proofread a document is to work backwards word by word, reading each word out of context to ensure it's correctly spelled and placed. 
  • Your spell checker will help with proofreading, but it won't catch mistakes such as writing "the" instead of "then." These typos can only be fixed by carefully reading your document.