Revising your Draft

Revising the Rough Draft

ENGL B1A - Professsor Rachal ​

Start with the Big Stuff

Successfully revising an essay is not just changing a couple of commas and fixing one or two spelling mistakes.  

• Think BIG about how you can improve your essay.  

• This may involve rewriting part or all of that draft.  

• Read the comments from your peers before revising - what do they have in common?

• Pay particular attention to the items on the next slides, and ask yourself these questions...

Multiple Choice

Revising your essay is more than just fixing grammar and punctuation.

• True

• False

• Did you respond properly to the assignment?  

• Did you understand the assignment and the directions you were given?  

• Can you rewrite your introduction or other parts of your paper to make your essay respond more directly to the assignment?  

• Perhaps in writing your first draft, you now understand better what it is that you want to evaluate or explain… 

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​Don't be afraid to DELETE!

​Content

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Organization

Essay Organization: Does your paper have a clear structure, or do you wander from point to point?  Did you organize your paragraphs in a logical way?  

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Paragraph Organization: Do your essays have a clear pattern of organization?  Do you have a topic sentence that states the main idea of your paragraph?

​Clarity and Style

• Do you have too many “to be” verbs in your essay?  

• Do you write in the passive voice too often? 

• Do you have too many words like: “very” “extremely” and "awesome"?  

• Read your paper out loud and mark any places where your language sounds awkward or unclear.

Multiple Choice

What can you do to find awkward or unclear language in your essay?

• Use a thesaurus

• Read it out loud

• Compare it to someone else's essay

• Use spell check

Proofreading

• Don’t merely rely on spell-check or grammar check.  These tools can be helpful, but they also can miss some glaring mistakes. 

• Use your peer review comments to improve and make changes.

• Your final draft must differ from your first draft!

• Does your intro capture attention at the beginning? Does it have a hook?

• Does your first paragraph briefly summarize the topic to be developed?

• Is the thesis one sentence?

• Does the thesis describe what you criteria​ you will be evaluating?

​Intro

• Does the title briefly describe and reflect the paper?

• The title should be original - it should not be the title of the assignment!​

​Title

Revising section by section

Multiple Choice

The title of your essay should NOT be

• One word

• Unique

• Different from the assignment title

• The same as the assignment title

Multiple Choice

The thesis should include

• The criteria to be evaluated

• A quote

• A summary of the topic

• A question

• Does each paragraph include a topic sentence that introduces the topic of that paragraph?

• Is each paragraph in an effective or logical order?

• Do your transitions between paragraphs work?

• Are relationships between paragraphs clear?

• Can any paragraphs be eliminated or combined with others more effectively?

Supporting Paragraphs

Conclusion

• Does the conclusion summarize important information and have a reworded thesis statement?

• Does the conclusion leave the reader thinking?

• ​Make sure there is no new information in the conclusion!​

Multiple Choice

The conclusion should NOT

• Have a reworded thesis

• Include new information

• Include a quote

• Ask a question

Last but not least...

Review your Works Cited Page!

Open Ended

After watching the video, write down two or three key points or takeaways that you learned from the professor's rewriting tips. Then answer this: What do you struggle with the most when revising an essay?