/Editing/

What is Editing?
All professional writers work with professional editors to improve and refine their work. In many cases, what seems clear and readable to a writer will seem confusing, boring, or lacking in intellect to readers. The editor's job is to identify these problems and work with the writer to resolve them. Often enough, the well-balanced prose that ends up in a good book or article is nearly unrecognizable when compared to the draft the writer originally submitted to the publisher.

Unfortunately, most student writers do not have access to a professional editor when they are drafting essays for their professors--and many professional writers do not always find themselves working with top-quality editors (and often disagree with their suggestions). All writers need to learn how to effectively edit their own work. After all, when we are struggling to make sense of badly written prose, we do not blame the editor--we blame the author. In short, if you want to succeed in any kind of writing, you must acquire solid editing skills.

Whether you are editing your own work or someone else's, there are sensible steps to follow to ensure a job well done. First, let's talk about two types of editing.

Macro and Micro Editing
Many novice writers do not differentiate between the major ideas and topics and the minor and detailed information when they are editing their documents. They may spend an hour trying to get a sentence to sound just right, only to go back later and delete the entire paragraph. Students often struggle just to get beyond grammar and mechanics when "correcting" their papers. Of course, spelling and punctuation are important, but they are not the only things that matter in writing a college essay. A clear and readable prose style presents a writer as much more intelligent and knowledgeable, and it also shows that the writer took the extra effort to make corrections and improvements.

When you sit down to edit a document, don't "sweat the small stuff." If you're responding to an essay prompt or completing an assignment, look over the instructions carefully and make sure you have followed them (see Analyzing Assignments). After all, if you realize you are going to need to rewrite the whole document, you should figure that out before you spend all night fixing comma splices.

If you are reasonably sure your essay follows the assignment's directions and/or guidelines, you should start thinking about your document in chunks. Take a look at your paragraph structure and the subtopic of each one. Do your paragraphs follow a sensible organizational scheme? You might try mapping your paper into an outline to get a "bird's eye view" of your layout. You may decide that the third paragraph should really be the second, or that you could take some sentences out of one paragraph and put them in another. You might also realize that you have left out an important idea and need to add an entirely new paragraph. A few minutes spent studying your paper's structure can save you a tremendous amount of time and stress later on.

If you are satisfied with your layout and overall structure, it is time to get down to the "nitty gritty," and replace your telescope with a microscope. Micro-level editing means analyzing every sentence and every word in your essay. Sound scary? It may not be as bad as you might think.

Content Editing
The first thing you should focus on editing is your introduction. Whether it is one paragraph or an entire chapter, the purpose of the introduction is to grab your readers' attention and make them want to know more about your subject. Draw your readers in from the beginning and follow with relevant and interesting supportive information. If a reader isn't intrigued from the very beginning of the piece, they will quickly become distracted or bored and avoid reading any further. Does the history of the Oxford English Dictionary sound exciting to you? Well, Simon Winchester was able to turn that very topic into |The Professor and the Madman, a national best-seller. Consider every essay assignment an opportunity to show off your storytelling skills. Delight your readers with clear, clever, and creative prose. It all begins with an effective introduction.

What is the difference between good and bad introductions? In short, a bad intro is misleading, rambling, incoherent, boring, or so hopelessly vague that you know less about the paper afterwards than you did before reading it. On the other hand, a good intro gets to the point, gives the reader a reason to keep on reading, and sets the stage for a really exciting performance. An introduction is like a first impression. Your essay's introduction is your reader's first impression of your ability as a writer.

State your argument up front and present a clear thesis right away, then subtly describe your paper's overall structure. Try summarizing every paragraph into one sentence each, then put them all together to see if your introduction covers each point. Your introduction should state the issue at hand, establish your position regarding it, describe your paper's organization, and identify the scope of your coverage. Let's take each of these in turn.

Be sure to have a clear thesis. Simply put, a thesis is your main point, the line of argument that you are pursuing in your essay. It answers two simple questions: What issue are you writing about, and what is your position on it? A thesis statement is a single sentence (or sometimes two) that provides the answers to these questions clearly and concisely. Ask yourself, "What is my paper about, exactly?" to help you develop a precise and directed thesis, not only for your reader, but for you as well.

How can you be sure that your thesis is clear? Will your reader be able to identify it and see that the rest of your paper is supporting your argument? Most American readers expect to see the point of your argument (the thesis statement) within the first few paragraphs. This does not mean that you have to place it there every time. Some writers place it at the very end, slowly building up to it throughout their work, so as to explain a point after the fact. Wherever the appropriate place for your thesis may be, make sure your readers will know that it is, in fact, your thesis. Normally, thesis statements are only a couple of sentences long, if that. Try to fit your thesis into one sentence if possible. Remember: The harder it is for you to write your thesis statement, the more likely it is that your entire essay is incoherent and unfocused. If you are having real problems crafting a good thesis statement, you may need to start over, narrow your topic, or dig even deeper into what you are trying to say and write.

Body Paragraphs
Another question to ask yourself when editing your paper is: do your sentences get to the point--are they plain and simple sentences? Good writers avoid long, wordy sentences. If a sentence is already plain and direct, there's no need to fluff it up. Rather, you should keep it clear and succinct. Flowery words and phrases obscure your ideas: when writing, being concise is key. For example, why say that "Cats have a tendency toward sleeping most of the day," when you could simply say "Cats tend to sleep most of the day?" How about changing "The 12th day of the month of April" to "April 12th?" Try to pick out such sentences and substitute simpler ones. Often in writing, less is more. Fourth, see that there is flawless organization. Is your tense consistent throughout the paper (past, present, or future or first, second or third person)? How about the narrator's emotion? Is the academic tone of your narration consistent? Reevaluate your claim and make sure it ties in with your thesis. Each sentence in every paragraph should support your claim. From one paragraph to the next, the ideas flow into each other so the reader does not feel there are interruptions or delays. Remind yourself not to get carried away from the original point you are trying to make. This will also prevent the reader from becoming lost or confused. Finally, end your writing with a good conclusion. The conclusion and the introduction should be similar. Some people actually restate their entire thesis in the conclusion just to reestablish what the entire paper is about; it becomes a way of tying up loose ends. The goal is to pull readers in right from the start and keep them hooked until the last sentence.

Sentence Structure

 * Use active verbs.
 * Be-verbs (is, am, are, was, were, be, has/have been)  indicate condition, and often require an extra sentence or clause to be sound.   Active verbs   allow you to compose sharply without numbing the rhythm of your writing. Read your writing with an objective eye and think: “How can I make every sentence and paragraph straightforward and simple?” Below are examples in italics of wordy and confusing verbiage. Below the italics are the same sentences that have been simplified.
 * 'The sharp rise in fuel prices  is ' a serious challenge to trucking firms. It makes it hard for them to provide timely service to customers and to meet payroll expenses.
 * Sharply rising fuel prices challenge trucking firms by causing delays in customer service and payroll.
 * Primary causes of the rise in fuel prices are an issue of confusion for many citizens. They don’t know how to fight the rise because they don’t know its cause.
 * Primary causes of rising fuel prices elude many citizens, making them unaware of how to fight the increase.''
 * Primary causes of rising fuel prices elude many citizens, making them unaware of how to fight the increase.''


 * Name the people. Directly state   who or what group   is acting in your sentences. Note the contrast in power and clarity among the sentences below:
 * Without people: A citywide ban on indoor smoking in Duluth originally caused a marked drop in bar patronage.
 * With people: When the Duluth City Council passed a citywide ban on indoor smoking, many people stopped going to bars.


 * Eliminate wordy phrases. Certain stock phrases are weak and wordy. They can make you sound stuffy or as though you’re just trying to fill up space. Use these replacements:
 * Because, Since, Why: the reason for, for the reason that, owing/due to the fact that, in light of the fact that, considering the fact that, on the grounds that, this is why
 * When: on the occasion of, in a situation in which, under circumstances in which
 * About, Regarding: as regards, in reference to, with regard to, concerning the matter of, where ABC is concerned
 * Must, Should: it is crucial that, it is necessary that, there is a need/necessity for, it is important that, it cannot be avoided that
 * Can: is able to, has the opportunity to, has the capacity for, has the ability to
 * May, Might, Could: it is possible that, there is a chance that, it could happen that, the possibility exists for

Editing Tips
Editing is like going over your writing with a fine-toothed comb, scanning the surface and the depths for errors, misstatements, and a lack of clarity. First, keep resources close. Gather your writing handbook, dictionary, thesaurus, handouts, and any other editing resources and keep them close. This way, you will not be tempted to guess at the correct way to do something. Instead, use your resources when you need them. Spelling errors can be avoided if you have a dictionary nearby. Don't rely on spell check. It will only correct the spelling, not the proper usage of a word. For example, the word their means someone's possession of something. When used in a sentence, "We sat in their chairs." On the other hand, there is used to express an area or place. When used in a sentence, "We sat over there." Looking up these words in a dictionary will prevent unnecessary errors from occurring.

Secondly, know your errors. Keep a list of the errors you tend to make next to a corresponding list of corrections. No writer makes unique mistakes all the time; instead, our mistakes be habitual. Know what yours are by looking at your instructor’s comments on past papers or by working with a writing tutor. That way, you can enhance your editing strategies by watching specifically for these types of errors. If there are grammar rules you find yourself looking up more frequently than others, write them down for future reference.

Thirdly, break it down. Edit one thing at a time. Instead of reading your paper through from start to finish once or twice and trying to catch everything, try searching for one thing at a time. For example, you might go through your paper once to tighten up wordiness. Then, read through a second time, while looking for one type of error which you frequently make, such as comma splices. Then, try reading a third time looking for words that may have been misspelled when you ran a spell check. Read a fourth time for another characteristic error, such as subject-verb agreement.

Next, reduce visual clutter. Use two pieces of blank paper to cover up everything but one sentence at a time. This forces you to pay closer attention to the words because they are the only thing you see. Normally, our eyes move all over a text as we are reading; this trick will prevent that tendency. Lastly, work backwards. Read from the end of your paper to the beginning, one sentence at a time. When we read in the conventional manner--top to bottom or left to right--we tend to read quickly and are constantly leaping ahead without really focusing on the words. Reading backwards forces us to slow down, thereby allowing us to catch more errors within individual sentences.

When reviewing your work, it is also important to ensure that the tense you choose remains consistent. Tense refers to the relation of details in the past, present, and future. For example, one writer may tell a story about going to the mall in the present tense by saying, "I am walking around the mall and I see my third grade teacher." Another writer may choose to relate this story in the past tense by saying, "I was walking around the mall when I saw my third grade teacher." Although it is important to select the tense that best suits the particular context a writer is using, it is equally important to remain consistent with whatever tense is chosen. Inconsistency within tense is extremely confusing for readers. It is important to review your use of tense to ensure that your language is clear. For example, if you were to say "I was walking around the mall and I see my third grade teacher" your audience would be very confused, wondering if you were seeing your teacher in the present or last week. By keeping your tense consistent your reader will always know when you experienced what you're writing about.

Perspectives on Style
Prescription and description litter these pages and others. Some writers tell you how to write: how your writing should look, sound, and feel. These writers prescribe rules (writer's handbooks are their bibles). Should you follow them? Prescription can be limiting. In some instances, it may be profitable or necessary to follow a formula (when writing a legal document or a theme for your fifth grade teacher, for example). It is necessary to learn the rules, if only to break them. Rules are not static, however. They evolve. Rules are added, changed, omitted. Current fashion is the only certainty.

Other writers describe how text is actually written. They analyze past and present text, highlighting similarities, differences, and respective efficiency. They define goals and purpose. It may be purposeful to apply rules, yet at other times it may not. But do not allow yourself to become limited by prescription.

Examine your goal and determine the best approach to reach it.

Why discuss style in a section on editing? As you write, you make choices. As you edit, you examine the effectiveness of those choices. Some choices are more effective than others and may reinforce your message. It all depends on your goal, your purpose, and your audience. Are you writing a birthday greeting or a dissertation? An instant message or a public address? Your choices determine your text's effectiveness; they help relate meaning.

As you can imagine, there are as many perspectives on style as there are available topics for writing. The following is an attempt to present some of those perspectives.

Richard Lanham on Prose Styles
A book written by Richard Lanham titled Analyzing Prose is a great tool for writers looking to pick up ideas for new styles. Through this work, one can can gain techniques covering the following styles:


 * Opaque and Transparent
 * Noun and Verb
 * Paratactic and Hypotactic
 * Periodic and Running

Learning how to properly incorporate these styles into your own writing can transform your work from everyday textbook style writing into colorful, creative, individualistic styles.