Ask a Teacher

HOW DO WE EDIT A PARAGRAPH .

1. Just walk away • We all know that when we’re too close to things, we don’t see them clearly. This can be good for relationships, but hazardous for the editing process. • Thats why you need to get a little distance. So after you wrote your paragraph, set away from the computer to clear your head.
2. Imagine you’re not you. Instead, imagine you’re the intended audience reading your document for the first time. The big questions you want to answer here are: – Does it make sense? Would the reader understand what you’re trying to say? – Does it hold your interest from start to finish? – Does it include all the information you need (e.g., important numbers, facts, or events)?
3. Is your writing FAT? Here are three ways to lose the fat: – Avoid long sentences: If any are longer than 25 words or so, consider turning them into two sentences or removing any unnecessary words. – Slim down the words: Replace long words and phrases with short ones. In other words, why say “ascertain the location of” when you can just say “find”? – Remember that black flatters figures, but white flatters writing: Nothing is more daunting to a reader than a dense block of text. So you add some breathing room with white space between paragraphs, bold subheads and (where appropriate) bullet points.
4. Listen to your high school English teacher Actually, your writing is not the same as the writing of your old English teacher. Here are a few major points we can all agree on: – Good writing is error-free. This means perfect spelling and no typos. • Check for the correct use of homonyms like "to/too/two", "their/they’re/there", etc. Spell checker doesn’t always make those distinctions. • Confirm you’ve spelled all names correctly. This mistake can be particularly embarrassing. – Good writing avoids the energy-draining passive voice. Write "Bob threw the ball". Not "The ball was thrown by Bob". – Good writing is formatted correctly. Check your margins, use of spacing and consistency in style of headings — font, bold or not bold, capitalization, etc.
5. Now clean it up and read itagain. Out loud. After you’ve made your editing (don’t edit onscreen!), print your document and read it again. If you’re in a crowded office, whisper instead, but don’t skip this step. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll catch.