1. Revision,
Editing,
Proofing
K. Shimabukuro

2. Step 1- Revision
 Is your thesis/argument clear?
 Does each topic sentence of each body
paragraph make a clear statement/point
about your topic?
 Use color coding to double check this
 Make sure you haven’t buried the topic of your
body paragraph
 Look within each body paragraph and make
sure that the ideas and argument flows well
and supports the topic sentence.

3. More on Revision
 You might have to make major changes to
your paper.
 I suggest printing out your paper and making
notes on this first.
 Save each revision as a separate document
(v2, v3, etc.) so that you can revisit a previous
draft if you need to.
 Don’t be afraid to cut out portions that aren’t
supporting your argument.
 Look at organization- would this paragraph
be better earlier? Or later?

4. Revise, revise, revise
 Youwill have to revise your paper more
than once.
 Each time you make major revisions, read
the paper out loud, make notes, use color
coding.
 You need to make sure your argument is
clear and supported before you move onto
the next step.
 Be sure that your citations are still correct if
you move pieces of information around.

5. Step 2- Editing
 Once you’ve finished with the revision of your
argument, which has to do with how your
argument is structured, then you’re ready to edit.
 Editing has to do with grammar, spelling and
syntax.
 The best way to make editing corrections to the
paper is to read it out loud.
 DO NOT rely on spell and grammar check. Both
make mistakes, or “misread” items. While you
should spell and grammar check, there is no
replacement for you editing your paper.
 Again, I think a printed out copy helps with this.
 Make corrections as you read aloud.

6. Step 3- Proofreading
 Proofreading is often confused with
editing, as many people complete both
activities at the same time.
 I suggest that you keep it a separate step.
 Proofreading includes:
 Checking for typos and misspellings.
 Checking that the format of your paper is
MLA.
 This includes parenthetical citations

7. Finishing Up
 Use the resources we’ve covered in class.
 Purdue OWL
 The revision checklist
 MLA sites for parenthetical citations and
general paper formatting