Whether you just finished your first essay or you’ve done hundreds of them, revising will always be crucial. Great essay revision is the thin line between being a + and an average one. Unfortunately, paper revision is a step that most students hate and tend to overlook. But, if done right, it could significantly improve your grades and give a boost to your writing skills. That said, here is an essay revision checklist to guide you. But if you find the process overwhelming, or you simply have too much on your plate, then you should consider free online essay revision.
What Does it Mean to Revise Your Essay
You must understand what an essay revise is as it’s often confused with proofreading. On that note, proofreading refers to the process of fixing grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure problems. Simply put, it refers to the process of correcting typos or incorrectly placed commas. It aims at turning an essay into a polished, grammatically appealing piece of writing.
Revision, on the other hand, is going over the information you’ve written and changing or even rewriting entire paragraphs. This is so that your ideas can be more precise, accurate, engaging, and convincing. In a layman language, revision refers to “see again.” Therefore when you revise your essay, you are simply going over what you’ve written to ensure that you’ve expressed your thoughts clearly and logically.
How to Revise a Paper?
Now that you know what it means to revise my essay, how do you revise an essay? Well, there is no special formula to it, but if you follow the essay revision plan below you can make your paper revisions more smooth sailing
- Take Some time Off. Proper revision of an essay begins when you can view your ideas from a fresh angle and are open to changing them. In other words, you can only make effective changes to your essay if you criticize it. Unfortunately, doing this immediately after you finish your piece is often difficult because you are still attached to what you’ve written. Also, at that time, you want to submit the essay and be over and done.Hence it’s impossible to develop honest self-criticism. Therefore, don’t revise a paper immediately after you complete it. If you do not have a pressing deadline, then take some time off. For instance, a half-hour break and then look at it again. This will enable you to think of fresh better ideas and develop objectivity. As a result, you’ll be more open to the notion of deleting or rewriting entire paragraphs.
- Review the Instructions. The main goal of writing an essay is to address the topic or answer questions. So, no matter how good an idea might be, if it strays from the assignment, then you have to get rid of it. Ensure all the ideas you may have come up with during your break are not only great but are also in sync with the essay’s instructions. Put it simply, make sure each statement, each argument, or word has a good reason to be in your content during your essay revision.
- Create a Post-Draft Outline. As the name implies, a post-draft outline refers to an outline you create once you’ve written the first draft of your essay. As mentioned above, it’s essential to ensure that your essay is in sync with the instructions. Sure, reading through it and rereading the guidelines will help you identify ideas that stray from or are irrelevant to your work. But it’s not always easy to identify them, especially if you think they are great. In respect to that, create a post-draft outline and in it, write down the main point in each paragraph. Review it against the instructions, and if it seems relevant to your work, then it can stay. But if not, then remove it. To create an effective post-draft outline:
- Number each paragraph on your essay, including the introduction
- On a new page, create a numbered list and write down the main idea being expressed in each paragraph, i.e., the thesis statement on the introduction and so on
- Now evaluate each paragraph on your essay to see if it represents the main ideas efficiently. For instance, do you sound repetitive? If yes, then rewrite the entire paragraph.
- Evaluate each idea on your post-draft outline against the essay instructions. Do they address the question? If not, consider deleting the entire paragraph and finding another concept.
- Read Your Paper Out Loud and Slow. Sometimes you may make mistakes and not realize it. When you read something aloud and slowly, you’ll realize that it sounds off and correct it. So make it your habit to read your work out loud and slowly when you revise an essay.
- Have Someone Else Go Through It. The main reason why we urge you to refrain from revising your work immediately after you finish writing it is so you can view from a fresh perspective. Doing so helps you isolate from your work so you can make critical changes. But since it’s your work, you may still miss out on some costly mistakes. Thus, another effective way to improve the quality of your work is have someone else go through it before submission. It could be your friend or a relative. You could also make use of a completely neutral third party by making good use of free essay revision services.
Why It’s Important to Revise a Paper
As mentioned, most students often overlook essay revision and often submit it as soon as they put the last full stop. If you’re one of them, it’s high time you start taking the exercise seriously as paper revision is equally as important as the writing process. When you revise your essay, you not only get an opportunity to add points that will strengthen your ideas and result in better grades but also hone your writing skills.
For instance, you discover some of your most common error habits in essay writing, and consequently, avoid them to improve your skills. On top of better writing abilities, you also develop other essential life skills, which will come in handy once you get a job. For instance, you develop critical thinking, a much-needed ability in today’s job market. You also learn how to positively challenge or criticize your ideas, hence achieving your full potential.
While revision is of the essence, sometimes, you may have too much to handle on your plate. For instance, you may have an upcoming exam, a person thing you have to attend to, or an extracurricular competition. But that doesn’t mean you hand in your paper without revising it. Therefore, during such times, always look for an expert to revise essay online.