There are a lot of good suggestions for revising essays both in our reader on pages 20-23 and in Rules for Writers on pages 35-40. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should revise before you edit. In other words, change big things before you worry about sentence-level issues such as grammar and clarity. You don't want to spend your time editing sentences that you later decide to get rid of because they don't fit. Cut, add, and rearrange material first (global revision); then fix grammar, spelling, and clarity (sentence editing, proofreading).
Global revision
- Review essay purpose: topic & method. Are you answering the prompt?
- Rethink argument. Could your thesis be better?
- Redraft unworkable material.
- Add new material. What further evidence does the paper need? Have you demonstrated the effects?
- Delete material. If it doesn't fit the thesis, then it doesn't belong in the essay.
- Reorganize paragraphs. What is the best order of the paragraphs? How will the structure reinforce the argument?
- See other suggestions on pages 36-37 of Rules for Writers and pages 21-22 of our reader.
Final editing
- Reword sentences for clarity.
- Fix any fragments, run-ons, pronoun agreement, pronoun clarity, subject-verb agreement, and number agreement issues.
- Spell check your spell-checker. Don't assume it is always right or that it catches all errors.
- Have you done the MLA citation properly, both in-text and works cited?
- See the checklist on page 23 of our reader and use Rules for Writers.
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