My Personal Note on the Importance of Editing & Revising

I feel that editing and revising are two different occurrences and should be done in two different steps.  Unfortunately, most of my students think they can be done in one step and need to be taught that it is two steps.  Many of them feel that they are the same thing.  Thankfully, after the lesson on editing and revising, they change their minds.

In the past, I felt that it didn’t matter which order you performed these steps in, but now, I beginning to change my thinking.  Revising should be done first, then editing.  Editing should be the last thing you do before you publish your work.

You must look at your work to make sure it looks (editing) as good as it sounds (revising).

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Why is Editing and Revising so Important?

When writing; editing and revising are important.  They improve how your writing looks and sounds. 

Editing looks at how the writing looks.  Do you have errors in your writing?  Did you use the right words?  Are your sentences appropriate?  How do the words look as you read them on the page?  “During editing, the paper is fine-tuned for specific content, as well as organization and style at the paragraph and sentence level.”

Revising looks at how the writing sounds.  Is it readable by the audience that will be reading it?  Did you get your message across?  Does it make sense?  Are you objective?  Is your writing clear?  Is your content relevant?  “During revising, the rough draft is evaluated for the larger issues of general content, organization, and tone, by adding, deleting, and organizing information as necessary” (http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/style_purpose_strategy/revising_editing.html).

Most people complete these two steps at once, but, your writing will be better if you do this in two separate steps.  Yes, it creates more work, but it greatly improves your writing.  And that’s your ultimate goal, to make your writing better.

When editing and revising, here’s an image to help you edit and revise:

(http://library.defiance.edu/writingprocess/revisingetc)

It’s important to remember, that whenever you revise and make changes, you need to go back and edit your revised work.

Remember, editing checks how your writing looks and revising checks how your writing sounds.  You need make sure that your writing looks good and sounds good.  Errors can cause people to stop reading your work and disrespect you as a writer.