3.16 Revising and Editing

Learning Targets

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to say YES to the following questions.

• Can I use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts for a variety of purposes and audiences?

Revising and Editing

Okay, so you've gone through the motions of revising and editing many times. Can you still take it seriously? In the next couple of pages are targeted skills to focus on when you revise and edit this composition. Pay attention to the videos and try hard to use the skills covered in your biography. You can do it!

Revising - Sentence Variety

When sentences are all similar in length, reading something or even listening can become quite dull. See the difference between writing with several five word sentences and writing with varied sentences. Then, check your composition. Do you have varying sentence lengths?

Watch the video. Then, make revisions in your biography to improve sentence variety.

Revising - Transition Words and Phrases

Transition words help your writing to flow like a stream rather than crash from idea to idea like a waterfall. Transition words include special signal words for sequential writing: first, lastly, next, following that, then (Don't overuse then, though!!!).

Watch this video. Then, look through your writing to see where it can be improved by adding transition words or phrases.

Revising - Avoiding Repetition

You've looked at sentence variety and transition words. Another important skill is avoiding repetition. Some words are OVERUSED. Remember, you can add, delete, substitute/replace, or move things as needed.

Watch this video to see how to avoid repetition in your essay. Then, check your work over to make sure you have avoided too much repetition.

Editing - Capitalizing Titles and Headings

There are special rules for capitalizing titles and headings. Make sure you have given each section of your body headings.

They can be simple:

• Section 1: Early Life
• Section 2: Later Life
• Section 3: Major Accomplishments

They can be fancier:

• How It All Started
• The Dream Continues

But how are they capitalized? They use same rules as books and songs. After you watch the video, check the capitalization in your biography.

Editing - Run On Sentences

As your editing skills grow, you should be getting better at finding - and fixing - run-on sentences. You can learn to use semi-colons, dashes, colons, and transition words to improve your writing. You probably know periods and commas well. How can you use the other tools? Watch the video. Then, check your sentences. Reading your work slowly out loud and intentionally pausing as directed by punctuation really helps.

Editing