REVISING

    The first draft is finished. The first thoughts are on paper. Now comes revisions. No first draft is a masterpiece; before turning in the final product, it's time to make cuts, additions and re-writes.
    Revising is one of the most important steps. Listed below are the "high order concerns" you should focus on: organization, which is making sure each point transitions easily to the next; cohesiveness, which is ensuring that an outsider can read your essay and connect the dots between the story and what you're trying to convey, and development, when each paragraph is as short or as long as it needs to be so that there is a balance between facts from the story and your interpretation/argument.
    Note: before revising, you should take a small break where you don't think about the essay. It should last less than an hour, but long enough so that you come back with a neutral outlook about the paper than the initial "this is perfect!"
  • De-Familiarizing: This is mainly viewing the essay as "not yours" and to read the essay as if you know nothing about what it contains. This prevents you from being too biased to make adequate corrections with your paper. Your paper comes out more refined and concise. One way to do this is to read each paragraph out of order. Another way is to change the font or the color of the text so the overall appearance of the essay is significantly altered.
  • Conferencing: Sometimes talking to a professor, peer or tutor can be the easiest way to help you revise. Talking about an area you are struggling with can often help you generate ideas on how to address it. Even simply discussing your topic can make you think of additional support for one of your points or how to rephrase something previously stated.
  • Peer Review: Participating in a group workshop yields numerous benefits, namely getting more than one person's feedback. Giving your paper to a couple of peers or a tutor can point out areas you need to elaborate more. Make sure you give each reviewer a separate, clean copy - a paper with more than one person's comments can cause confusion. It might take longer than other steps, but it's a useful method to utilize on a particularly difficult analysis you are not sure makes sense. If a peer can't understand a point or can't follow your thought process, chances are the professor grading your paper won't, either. You can view an example of a peer review sheet here.
  • Compare it to your outline, prompt or assignment: Reviewing your essay and then the outline helps you see what points or quotes you may have wanted to use that you left out. Reading the original prompt can help you see if you stayed on-topic, or if you need to switch the direction of your essay, especially your conclusion.
  • Checking structure: This gives you a chance to cut unnecessary sentences and re-write any confusing ones. Sometimes you may read a paragraph and need to re-write it completely, or simply tweak it. Make sure all of your topic sentences and resulting explanations tie back to your thesis, which is key in order to support your argument. Again, you may need to add on to a paragraph instead, if it warrants more explanation.

Most good papers go through multiple drafts and therefore multiple revisions. Try different methods to see which one helps you the most. For various examples, check out our Archives.

As seen on TV...

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"I try to use different methods - not just de-familiarizing, not just peer-reviewing. Sometimes I need to step back and take a break, but usually, talking to someone about my essay helps me get past the writer's block. It's like a Dr. House discovery - a random comment from someone can cause the 'Eureka' moment." - Cassie

It Happens.

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"Revising is the most important part of my process.  Because I absolutely hate outlining and planning, I tend to have extremely unfocused and messy rough drafts.  I just tend to work better by diving straight into the drafting process and then spending more time revising.  Because of this, I go through multiple drafts before I am anywhere near satisfied with my paper.  It's frustrating sometimes, but it works for me!" -Leanna