checklist editing essay

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Editing Checklist

Does this paper fulfill all requirements of the assignment ?

Does this paper have a thesis ? Is the thesis specific ?

Does this paragraph have topic sentences at the beginning of each body paragraph? Do the topic sentences both connect to the thesis and introduce what I will be talking about in the paragraph itself?

Are there paragraphs that seem to be too long or too short ? Are the paragraphs relatively similar lengths?

Have I examined my paper for excess repetition (of words, phrases, sentence constructions)?

Are there transitions between paragraphs ?

Are there transitions between sentences ?

Does the conclusion do more than simply repeat the introduction, or summarize my argument? Have I extrapolated anything meaningful? Have I explained to my audience why this paper is important to them?

If quotations have been used, have they been smoothly integrated into the text with my own sentence both before and after the quote, including signal phrases ?

Have I properly formatted quotes over three lines (using indentation)?

Have I used an appropriate number and variety of sources (per the assignment requirements)?

Have I documented paraphrases and quotations appropriately, using an approved citation guide (MLA, APA, etc.)?

Does the paper have an original, meaningful title ?

Have I included page numbers ?

Have I maintained consistent use of verb tense ?

Have I used strong verbs ?

Have I used active and passive voice appropriately , given the field of writing?

Have I read the entire paper aloud , one word at a time, to check for simple errors?

Have I eliminated unnecessary words ?

Have I carefully proofread the paper for spelling and punctuation ?

Check for varied sentence structure and length: With a pen in your hand, read your paper out loud. At the end of each sentence, make a slash mark (/). Look at your sentences: are they very long? Very short? Mix it up!

Check for complete sentences: Starting from the last sentence in your paper, read it backwards, one sentence at a time. This helps you focus on a single sentence. Double-underline the subject and underline the verb for each independent clause. Make sure each subject has a verb. A sentence that starts with for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, although, as, because, or which runs a high risk of being a sentence fragment, so read it out loud to check if any additional words are needed or if it should be connected to the previous sentence. Be on the lookout for misplaced or absent commas that result in run-on sentences or comma splices.

Check pronouns’ referents: Draw a small square around each pronoun. Draw an arrow to the pronoun’s antecedent/referent. Check that your writing is clear and specific on who or what the pronoun is referring to (Does the reader know who they are? Can the reader easily know what you mean by it?). Check for singular/plural consistency.

Check transitional words and phrases: Draw a wavy line under each transitional word or phrase (moreover, in addition, on the other hand, etc.). You should have some transitions but not too many. Is each transitional word being used appropriately?

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Editing and Proofreading

What this handout is about.

This handout provides some tips and strategies for revising your writing. To give you a chance to practice proofreading, we have left seven errors (three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors) in the text of this handout. See if you can spot them!

Is editing the same thing as proofreading?

Not exactly. Although many people use the terms interchangeably, editing and proofreading are two different stages of the revision process. Both demand close and careful reading, but they focus on different aspects of the writing and employ different techniques.

Some tips that apply to both editing and proofreading

• Get some distance from the text! It’s hard to edit or proofread a paper that you’ve just finished writing—it’s still to familiar, and you tend to skip over a lot of errors. Put the paper aside for a few hours, days, or weeks. Go for a run. Take a trip to the beach. Clear your head of what you’ve written so you can take a fresh look at the paper and see what is really on the page. Better yet, give the paper to a friend—you can’t get much more distance than that. Someone who is reading the paper for the first time, comes to it with completely fresh eyes.
• Decide which medium lets you proofread most carefully. Some people like to work right at the computer, while others like to sit back with a printed copy that they can mark up as they read.
• Try changing the look of your document. Altering the size, spacing, color, or style of the text may trick your brain into thinking it’s seeing an unfamiliar document, and that can help you get a different perspective on what you’ve written.
• Find a quiet place to work. Don’t try to do your proofreading in front of the TV or while you’re chugging away on the treadmill. Find a place where you can concentrate and avoid distractions.
• If possible, do your editing and proofreading in several short blocks of time. Your concentration may start to wane if you try to proofread the entire text at one time.
• If you’re short on time, you may wish to prioritize. Make sure that you complete the most important editing and proofreading tasks.

Editing is what you begin doing as soon as you finish your first draft. You reread your draft to see, for example, whether the paper is well-organized, the transitions between paragraphs are smooth, and your evidence really backs up your argument. You can edit on several levels:

Have you done everything the assignment requires? Are the claims you make accurate? If it is required to do so, does your paper make an argument? Is the argument complete? Are all of your claims consistent? Have you supported each point with adequate evidence? Is all of the information in your paper relevant to the assignment and/or your overall writing goal? (For additional tips, see our handouts on understanding assignments and developing an argument .)

Overall structure

Does your paper have an appropriate introduction and conclusion? Is your thesis clearly stated in your introduction? Is it clear how each paragraph in the body of your paper is related to your thesis? Are the paragraphs arranged in a logical sequence? Have you made clear transitions between paragraphs? One way to check the structure of your paper is to make a reverse outline of the paper after you have written the first draft. (See our handouts on introductions , conclusions , thesis statements , and transitions .)

Structure within paragraphs

Does each paragraph have a clear topic sentence? Does each paragraph stick to one main idea? Are there any extraneous or missing sentences in any of your paragraphs? (See our handout on paragraph development .)

Have you defined any important terms that might be unclear to your reader? Is the meaning of each sentence clear? (One way to answer this question is to read your paper one sentence at a time, starting at the end and working backwards so that you will not unconsciously fill in content from previous sentences.) Is it clear what each pronoun (he, she, it, they, which, who, this, etc.) refers to? Have you chosen the proper words to express your ideas? Avoid using words you find in the thesaurus that aren’t part of your normal vocabulary; you may misuse them.

Have you used an appropriate tone (formal, informal, persuasive, etc.)? Is your use of gendered language (masculine and feminine pronouns like “he” or “she,” words like “fireman” that contain “man,” and words that some people incorrectly assume apply to only one gender—for example, some people assume “nurse” must refer to a woman) appropriate? Have you varied the length and structure of your sentences? Do you tends to use the passive voice too often? Does your writing contain a lot of unnecessary phrases like “there is,” “there are,” “due to the fact that,” etc.? Do you repeat a strong word (for example, a vivid main verb) unnecessarily? (For tips, see our handouts on style and gender-inclusive language .)

Have you appropriately cited quotes, paraphrases, and ideas you got from sources? Are your citations in the correct format? (See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for more information.)

As you edit at all of these levels, you will usually make significant revisions to the content and wording of your paper. Keep an eye out for patterns of error; knowing what kinds of problems you tend to have will be helpful, especially if you are editing a large document like a thesis or dissertation. Once you have identified a pattern, you can develop techniques for spotting and correcting future instances of that pattern. For example, if you notice that you often discuss several distinct topics in each paragraph, you can go through your paper and underline the key words in each paragraph, then break the paragraphs up so that each one focuses on just one main idea.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process, focusing on surface errors such as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation. You should proofread only after you have finished all of your other editing revisions.

Why proofread? It’s the content that really matters, right?

Content is important. But like it or not, the way a paper looks affects the way others judge it. When you’ve worked hard to develop and present your ideas, you don’t want careless errors distracting your reader from what you have to say. It’s worth paying attention to the details that help you to make a good impression.

Most people devote only a few minutes to proofreading, hoping to catch any glaring errors that jump out from the page. But a quick and cursory reading, especially after you’ve been working long and hard on a paper, usually misses a lot. It’s better to work with a definite plan that helps you to search systematically for specific kinds of errors.

Sure, this takes a little extra time, but it pays off in the end. If you know that you have an effective way to catch errors when the paper is almost finished, you can worry less about editing while you are writing your first drafts. This makes the entire writing proccess more efficient.

Try to keep the editing and proofreading processes separate. When you are editing an early draft, you don’t want to be bothered with thinking about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. If your worrying about the spelling of a word or the placement of a comma, you’re not focusing on the more important task of developing and connecting ideas.

The proofreading process

You probably already use some of the strategies discussed below. Experiment with different tactics until you find a system that works well for you. The important thing is to make the process systematic and focused so that you catch as many errors as possible in the least amount of time.

• Don’t rely entirely on spelling checkers. These can be useful tools but they are far from foolproof. Spell checkers have a limited dictionary, so some words that show up as misspelled may really just not be in their memory. In addition, spell checkers will not catch misspellings that form another valid word. For example, if you type “your” instead of “you’re,” “to” instead of “too,” or “there” instead of “their,” the spell checker won’t catch the error.
• Grammar checkers can be even more problematic. These programs work with a limited number of rules, so they can’t identify every error and often make mistakes. They also fail to give thorough explanations to help you understand why a sentence should be revised. You may want to use a grammar checker to help you identify potential run-on sentences or too-frequent use of the passive voice, but you need to be able to evaluate the feedback it provides.
• Proofread for only one kind of error at a time. If you try to identify and revise too many things at once, you risk losing focus, and your proofreading will be less effective. It’s easier to catch grammar errors if you aren’t checking punctuation and spelling at the same time. In addition, some of the techniques that work well for spotting one kind of mistake won’t catch others.
• Read slow, and read every word. Try reading out loud , which forces you to say each word and also lets you hear how the words sound together. When you read silently or too quickly, you may skip over errors or make unconscious corrections.
• Separate the text into individual sentences. This is another technique to help you to read every sentence carefully. Simply press the return key after every period so that every line begins a new sentence. Then read each sentence separately, looking for grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. If you’re working with a printed copy, try using an opaque object like a ruler or a piece of paper to isolate the line you’re working on.
• Circle every punctuation mark. This forces you to look at each one. As you circle, ask yourself if the punctuation is correct.
• Read the paper backwards. This technique is helpful for checking spelling. Start with the last word on the last page and work your way back to the beginning, reading each word separately. Because content, punctuation, and grammar won’t make any sense, your focus will be entirely on the spelling of each word. You can also read backwards sentence by sentence to check grammar; this will help you avoid becoming distracted by content issues.
• Proofreading is a learning process. You’re not just looking for errors that you recognize; you’re also learning to recognize and correct new errors. This is where handbooks and dictionaries come in. Keep the ones you find helpful close at hand as you proofread.
• Ignorance may be bliss, but it won’t make you a better proofreader. You’ll often find things that don’t seem quite right to you, but you may not be quite sure what’s wrong either. A word looks like it might be misspelled, but the spell checker didn’t catch it. You think you need a comma between two words, but you’re not sure why. Should you use “that” instead of “which”? If you’re not sure about something, look it up.
• The proofreading process becomes more efficient as you develop and practice a systematic strategy. You’ll learn to identify the specific areas of your own writing that need careful attention, and knowing that you have a sound method for finding errors will help you to focus more on developing your ideas while you are drafting the paper.

Think you’ve got it?

Then give it a try, if you haven’t already! This handout contains seven errors our proofreader should have caught: three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors. Try to find them, and then check a version of this page with the errors marked in red to see if you’re a proofreading star.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Especially for non-native speakers of English:

Ascher, Allen. 2006. Think About Editing: An ESL Guide for the Harbrace Handbooks . Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Lane, Janet, and Ellen Lange. 2012. Writing Clearly: Grammar for Editing , 3rd ed. Boston: Heinle.

For everyone:

Einsohn, Amy. 2011. The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications , 3rd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lanham, Richard A. 2006. Revising Prose , 5th ed. New York: Pearson Longman.

Tarshis, Barry. 1998. How to Be Your Own Best Editor: The Toolkit for Everyone Who Writes . New York: Three Rivers Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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8.4 Revising and Editing

Learning objectives.

• Identify major areas of concern in the draft essay during revising and editing.
• Use peer reviews and editing checklists to assist revising and editing.
• Revise and edit the first draft of your essay and produce a final draft.

Revising and editing are the two tasks you undertake to significantly improve your essay. Both are very important elements of the writing process. You may think that a completed first draft means little improvement is needed. However, even experienced writers need to improve their drafts and rely on peers during revising and editing. You may know that athletes miss catches, fumble balls, or overshoot goals. Dancers forget steps, turn too slowly, or miss beats. For both athletes and dancers, the more they practice, the stronger their performance will become. Web designers seek better images, a more clever design, or a more appealing background for their web pages. Writing has the same capacity to profit from improvement and revision.

Understanding the Purpose of Revising and Editing

Revising and editing allow you to examine two important aspects of your writing separately, so that you can give each task your undivided attention.

• When you revise , you take a second look at your ideas. You might add, cut, move, or change information in order to make your ideas clearer, more accurate, more interesting, or more convincing.
• When you edit , you take a second look at how you expressed your ideas. You add or change words. You fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You improve your writing style. You make your essay into a polished, mature piece of writing, the end product of your best efforts.

How do you get the best out of your revisions and editing? Here are some strategies that writers have developed to look at their first drafts from a fresh perspective. Try them over the course of this semester; then keep using the ones that bring results.

• Take a break. You are proud of what you wrote, but you might be too close to it to make changes. Set aside your writing for a few hours or even a day until you can look at it objectively.
• Ask someone you trust for feedback and constructive criticism.
• Pretend you are one of your readers. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied? Why?
• Use the resources that your college provides. Find out where your school’s writing lab is located and ask about the assistance they provide online and in person.

Many people hear the words critic , critical , and criticism and pick up only negative vibes that provoke feelings that make them blush, grumble, or shout. However, as a writer and a thinker, you need to learn to be critical of yourself in a positive way and have high expectations for your work. You also need to train your eye and trust your ability to fix what needs fixing. For this, you need to teach yourself where to look.

Creating Unity and Coherence

Following your outline closely offers you a reasonable guarantee that your writing will stay on purpose and not drift away from the controlling idea. However, when writers are rushed, are tired, or cannot find the right words, their writing may become less than they want it to be. Their writing may no longer be clear and concise, and they may be adding information that is not needed to develop the main idea.

When a piece of writing has unity , all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense. When the writing has coherence , the ideas flow smoothly. The wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and from paragraph to paragraph.

Reading your writing aloud will often help you find problems with unity and coherence. Listen for the clarity and flow of your ideas. Identify places where you find yourself confused, and write a note to yourself about possible fixes.

Creating Unity

Sometimes writers get caught up in the moment and cannot resist a good digression. Even though you might enjoy such detours when you chat with friends, unplanned digressions usually harm a piece of writing.

Mariah stayed close to her outline when she drafted the three body paragraphs of her essay she tentatively titled “Digital Technology: The Newest and the Best at What Price?” But a recent shopping trip for an HDTV upset her enough that she digressed from the main topic of her third paragraph and included comments about the sales staff at the electronics store she visited. When she revised her essay, she deleted the off-topic sentences that affected the unity of the paragraph.

Read the following paragraph twice, the first time without Mariah’s changes, and the second time with them.

Nothing is more confusing to me than choosing among televisions. It confuses lots of people who want a new high-definition digital television (HDTV) with a large screen to watch sports and DVDs on. You could listen to the guys in the electronics store, but word has it they know little more than you do. They want to sell what they have in stock, not what best fits your needs. You face decisions you never had to make with the old, bulky picture-tube televisions. Screen resolution means the number of horizontal scan lines the screen can show. This resolution is often 1080p, or full HD, or 768p. The trouble is that if you have a smaller screen, 32 inches or 37 inches diagonal, you won’t be able to tell the difference with the naked eye. The 1080p televisions cost more, though, so those are what the salespeople want you to buy. They get bigger commissions. The other important decision you face as you walk around the sales floor is whether to get a plasma screen or an LCD screen. Now here the salespeople may finally give you decent info. Plasma flat-panel television screens can be much larger in diameter than their LCD rivals. Plasma screens show truer blacks and can be viewed at a wider angle than current LCD screens. But be careful and tell the salesperson you have budget constraints. Large flat-panel plasma screens are much more expensive than flat-screen LCD models. Don’t let someone make you by more television than you need!

Answer the following two questions about Mariah’s paragraph:

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

• Now start to revise the first draft of the essay you wrote in Section 8 “Writing Your Own First Draft” . Reread it to find any statements that affect the unity of your writing. Decide how best to revise.

When you reread your writing to find revisions to make, look for each type of problem in a separate sweep. Read it straight through once to locate any problems with unity. Read it straight through a second time to find problems with coherence. You may follow this same practice during many stages of the writing process.

Writing at Work

Many companies hire copyeditors and proofreaders to help them produce the cleanest possible final drafts of large writing projects. Copyeditors are responsible for suggesting revisions and style changes; proofreaders check documents for any errors in capitalization, spelling, and punctuation that have crept in. Many times, these tasks are done on a freelance basis, with one freelancer working for a variety of clients.

Creating Coherence

Careful writers use transitions to clarify how the ideas in their sentences and paragraphs are related. These words and phrases help the writing flow smoothly. Adding transitions is not the only way to improve coherence, but they are often useful and give a mature feel to your essays. Table 8.3 “Common Transitional Words and Phrases” groups many common transitions according to their purpose.

Table 8.3 Common Transitional Words and Phrases

After Maria revised for unity, she next examined her paragraph about televisions to check for coherence. She looked for places where she needed to add a transition or perhaps reword the text to make the flow of ideas clear. In the version that follows, she has already deleted the sentences that were off topic.

Many writers make their revisions on a printed copy and then transfer them to the version on-screen. They conventionally use a small arrow called a caret (^) to show where to insert an addition or correction.

1. Answer the following questions about Mariah’s revised paragraph.

2. Now return to the first draft of the essay you wrote in Section 8 “Writing Your Own First Draft” and revise it for coherence. Add transition words and phrases where they are needed, and make any other changes that are needed to improve the flow and connection between ideas.

Being Clear and Concise

Some writers are very methodical and painstaking when they write a first draft. Other writers unleash a lot of words in order to get out all that they feel they need to say. Do either of these composing styles match your style? Or is your composing style somewhere in between? No matter which description best fits you, the first draft of almost every piece of writing, no matter its author, can be made clearer and more concise.

If you have a tendency to write too much, you will need to look for unnecessary words. If you have a tendency to be vague or imprecise in your wording, you will need to find specific words to replace any overly general language.

Identifying Wordiness

Sometimes writers use too many words when fewer words will appeal more to their audience and better fit their purpose. Here are some common examples of wordiness to look for in your draft. Eliminating wordiness helps all readers, because it makes your ideas clear, direct, and straightforward.

Sentences that begin with There is or There are .

Wordy: There are two major experiments that the Biology Department sponsors.

Revised: The Biology Department sponsors two major experiments.

Sentences with unnecessary modifiers.

Wordy: Two extremely famous and well-known consumer advocates spoke eloquently in favor of the proposed important legislation.

Revised: Two well-known consumer advocates spoke in favor of the proposed legislation.

Sentences with deadwood phrases that add little to the meaning. Be judicious when you use phrases such as in terms of , with a mind to , on the subject of , as to whether or not , more or less , as far as…is concerned , and similar expressions. You can usually find a more straightforward way to state your point.

Wordy: As a world leader in the field of green technology, the company plans to focus its efforts in the area of geothermal energy.

A report as to whether or not to use geysers as an energy source is in the process of preparation.

Revised: As a world leader in green technology, the company plans to focus on geothermal energy.

A report about using geysers as an energy source is in preparation.

Sentences in the passive voice or with forms of the verb to be . Sentences with passive-voice verbs often create confusion, because the subject of the sentence does not perform an action. Sentences are clearer when the subject of the sentence performs the action and is followed by a strong verb. Use strong active-voice verbs in place of forms of to be , which can lead to wordiness. Avoid passive voice when you can.

Wordy: It might perhaps be said that using a GPS device is something that is a benefit to drivers who have a poor sense of direction.

Revised: Using a GPS device benefits drivers who have a poor sense of direction.

Sentences with constructions that can be shortened.

Wordy: The e-book reader, which is a recent invention, may become as commonplace as the cell phone.

My over-sixty uncle bought an e-book reader, and his wife bought an e-book reader, too.

Revised: The e-book reader, a recent invention, may become as commonplace as the cell phone.

My over-sixty uncle and his wife both bought e-book readers.

Now return once more to the first draft of the essay you have been revising. Check it for unnecessary words. Try making your sentences as concise as they can be.

Choosing Specific, Appropriate Words

Most college essays should be written in formal English suitable for an academic situation. Follow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate. For more information about word choice, see Chapter 4 “Working with Words: Which Word Is Right?” .

• Avoid slang. Find alternatives to bummer , kewl , and rad .
• Avoid language that is overly casual. Write about “men and women” rather than “girls and guys” unless you are trying to create a specific effect. A formal tone calls for formal language.
• Avoid contractions. Use do not in place of don’t , I am in place of I’m , have not in place of haven’t , and so on. Contractions are considered casual speech.
• Avoid clichés. Overused expressions such as green with envy , face the music , better late than never , and similar expressions are empty of meaning and may not appeal to your audience.
• Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings. Some examples are allusion/illusion , complement/compliment , council/counsel , concurrent/consecutive , founder/flounder , and historic/historical . When in doubt, check a dictionary.
• Choose words with the connotations you want. Choosing a word for its connotations is as important in formal essay writing as it is in all kinds of writing. Compare the positive connotations of the word proud and the negative connotations of arrogant and conceited .
• Use specific words rather than overly general words. Find synonyms for thing , people , nice , good , bad , interesting , and other vague words. Or use specific details to make your exact meaning clear.

Now read the revisions Mariah made to make her third paragraph clearer and more concise. She has already incorporated the changes she made to improve unity and coherence.

1. Answer the following questions about Mariah’s revised paragraph:

2. Now return once more to your essay in progress. Read carefully for problems with word choice. Be sure that your draft is written in formal language and that your word choice is specific and appropriate.

Completing a Peer Review

After working so closely with a piece of writing, writers often need to step back and ask for a more objective reader. What writers most need is feedback from readers who can respond only to the words on the page. When they are ready, writers show their drafts to someone they respect and who can give an honest response about its strengths and weaknesses.

You, too, can ask a peer to read your draft when it is ready. After evaluating the feedback and assessing what is most helpful, the reader’s feedback will help you when you revise your draft. This process is called peer review .

You can work with a partner in your class and identify specific ways to strengthen each other’s essays. Although you may be uncomfortable sharing your writing at first, remember that each writer is working toward the same goal: a final draft that fits the audience and the purpose. Maintaining a positive attitude when providing feedback will put you and your partner at ease. The box that follows provides a useful framework for the peer review session.

Questions for Peer Review

Title of essay: ____________________________________________

Date: ____________________________________________

Writer’s name: ____________________________________________

Peer reviewer’s name: _________________________________________

• This essay is about____________________________________________.
• Your main points in this essay are____________________________________________.
• What I most liked about this essay is____________________________________________.

These three points struck me as your strongest:

These places in your essay are not clear to me:

a. Where: ____________________________________________

Needs improvement because__________________________________________

b. Where: ____________________________________________

Needs improvement because ____________________________________________

c. Where: ____________________________________________

The one additional change you could make that would improve this essay significantly is ____________________________________________.

One of the reasons why word-processing programs build in a reviewing feature is that workgroups have become a common feature in many businesses. Writing is often collaborative, and the members of a workgroup and their supervisors often critique group members’ work and offer feedback that will lead to a better final product.

Exchange essays with a classmate and complete a peer review of each other’s draft in progress. Remember to give positive feedback and to be courteous and polite in your responses. Focus on providing one positive comment and one question for more information to the author.

Using Feedback Objectively

The purpose of peer feedback is to receive constructive criticism of your essay. Your peer reviewer is your first real audience, and you have the opportunity to learn what confuses and delights a reader so that you can improve your work before sharing the final draft with a wider audience (or your intended audience).

It may not be necessary to incorporate every recommendation your peer reviewer makes. However, if you start to observe a pattern in the responses you receive from peer reviewers, you might want to take that feedback into consideration in future assignments. For example, if you read consistent comments about a need for more research, then you may want to consider including more research in future assignments.

Using Feedback from Multiple Sources

You might get feedback from more than one reader as you share different stages of your revised draft. In this situation, you may receive feedback from readers who do not understand the assignment or who lack your involvement with and enthusiasm for it.

You need to evaluate the responses you receive according to two important criteria:

• Determine if the feedback supports the purpose of the assignment.
• Determine if the suggested revisions are appropriate to the audience.

Then, using these standards, accept or reject revision feedback.

Work with two partners. Go back to Note 8.81 “Exercise 4” in this lesson and compare your responses to Activity A, about Mariah’s paragraph, with your partners’. Recall Mariah’s purpose for writing and her audience. Then, working individually, list where you agree and where you disagree about revision needs.

Editing Your Draft

If you have been incorporating each set of revisions as Mariah has, you have produced multiple drafts of your writing. So far, all your changes have been content changes. Perhaps with the help of peer feedback, you have made sure that you sufficiently supported your ideas. You have checked for problems with unity and coherence. You have examined your essay for word choice, revising to cut unnecessary words and to replace weak wording with specific and appropriate wording.

The next step after revising the content is editing. When you edit, you examine the surface features of your text. You examine your spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation. You also make sure you use the proper format when creating your finished assignment.

Editing often takes time. Budgeting time into the writing process allows you to complete additional edits after revising. Editing and proofreading your writing helps you create a finished work that represents your best efforts. Here are a few more tips to remember about your readers:

• Readers do not notice correct spelling, but they do notice misspellings.
• Readers look past your sentences to get to your ideas—unless the sentences are awkward, poorly constructed, and frustrating to read.
• Readers notice when every sentence has the same rhythm as every other sentence, with no variety.
• Readers do not cheer when you use there , their , and they’re correctly, but they notice when you do not.
• Readers will notice the care with which you handled your assignment and your attention to detail in the delivery of an error-free document..

The first section of this book offers a useful review of grammar, mechanics, and usage. Use it to help you eliminate major errors in your writing and refine your understanding of the conventions of language. Do not hesitate to ask for help, too, from peer tutors in your academic department or in the college’s writing lab. In the meantime, use the checklist to help you edit your writing.

Editing Your Writing

• Are some sentences actually sentence fragments?
• Are some sentences run-on sentences? How can I correct them?
• Do some sentences need conjunctions between independent clauses?
• Does every verb agree with its subject?
• Is every verb in the correct tense?
• Are tense forms, especially for irregular verbs, written correctly?
• Have I used subject, object, and possessive personal pronouns correctly?
• Have I used who and whom correctly?
• Is the antecedent of every pronoun clear?
• Do all personal pronouns agree with their antecedents?
• Have I used the correct comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs?
• Is it clear which word a participial phrase modifies, or is it a dangling modifier?

Sentence Structure

• Are all my sentences simple sentences, or do I vary my sentence structure?
• Have I chosen the best coordinating or subordinating conjunctions to join clauses?
• Have I created long, overpacked sentences that should be shortened for clarity?
• Do I see any mistakes in parallel structure?

Punctuation

• Does every sentence end with the correct end punctuation?
• Can I justify the use of every exclamation point?
• Have I used apostrophes correctly to write all singular and plural possessive forms?
• Have I used quotation marks correctly?

Mechanics and Usage

• Can I find any spelling errors? How can I correct them?
• Have I used capital letters where they are needed?
• Have I written abbreviations, where allowed, correctly?
• Can I find any errors in the use of commonly confused words, such as to / too / two ?

Be careful about relying too much on spelling checkers and grammar checkers. A spelling checker cannot recognize that you meant to write principle but wrote principal instead. A grammar checker often queries constructions that are perfectly correct. The program does not understand your meaning; it makes its check against a general set of formulas that might not apply in each instance. If you use a grammar checker, accept the suggestions that make sense, but consider why the suggestions came up.

Proofreading requires patience; it is very easy to read past a mistake. Set your paper aside for at least a few hours, if not a day or more, so your mind will rest. Some professional proofreaders read a text backward so they can concentrate on spelling and punctuation. Another helpful technique is to slowly read a paper aloud, paying attention to every word, letter, and punctuation mark.

If you need additional proofreading help, ask a reliable friend, a classmate, or a peer tutor to make a final pass on your paper to look for anything you missed.

Remember to use proper format when creating your finished assignment. Sometimes an instructor, a department, or a college will require students to follow specific instructions on titles, margins, page numbers, or the location of the writer’s name. These requirements may be more detailed and rigid for research projects and term papers, which often observe the American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Language Association (MLA) style guides, especially when citations of sources are included.

To ensure the format is correct and follows any specific instructions, make a final check before you submit an assignment.

With the help of the checklist, edit and proofread your essay.

Key Takeaways

• Revising and editing are the stages of the writing process in which you improve your work before producing a final draft.
• During revising, you add, cut, move, or change information in order to improve content.
• During editing, you take a second look at the words and sentences you used to express your ideas and fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.
• Unity in writing means that all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong together and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense.
• Coherence in writing means that the writer’s wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and between paragraphs.
• Transitional words and phrases effectively make writing more coherent.
• Writing should be clear and concise, with no unnecessary words.
• Effective formal writing uses specific, appropriate words and avoids slang, contractions, clichés, and overly general words.
• Peer reviews, done properly, can give writers objective feedback about their writing. It is the writer’s responsibility to evaluate the results of peer reviews and incorporate only useful feedback.
• Remember to budget time for careful editing and proofreading. Use all available resources, including editing checklists, peer editing, and your institution’s writing lab, to improve your editing skills.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Self-Editing Checklist: Improve Your Writing Fast

An effective editing checklist is crucial for good writing. It will help you fix and publish your work faster.

Have you ever written a paragraph in your book, rewrote it, written another paragraph, and then went back and rewrote that too?

And on and on and on…

An hour goes by.

You realize you haven’t written anything at all. All you’ve done is rewrite the same part of your draft.

Feels like writer’s block , right?

For years, I wrote like this. I worked on my stories and ideas, and I spent hours revising and tinkering with my sentences, moving the nouns around and looking for the right verbs. This is a terrible way to write .

In this post, I’ll offer you a printable self-editing checklist and explain how to use it. I also provide tips from a professional editor.

Two Pre-Editing Tips to Consider

Take time off, change the format, let the ink run, read your pieces or chapters aloud, round 1: editing the structure of your book chapter, round 2: editing your book chapter in relation to other book chapters, round 3: line-editing your book chapter, 21 rules for every writer’s self-editing checklist, how many rounds of editing is enough, editing software for writers, books to learn about self-editing, what is an editing checklist, what is the importance of an editing checklist, what is the difference between editing and copy editing, what are the benefits of editing, [interview]: how to work with an editor with neha vaidya of papertrue.

When you try writing and editing at the same time, you’re doing TWO different activities .

The left side of your brain that needs to write and get ideas out of your head and onto the blank page – your internal writer – shies away from your inner editor.

The right side of your brain that takes your first draft and turns it into something that shines – your internal editor – does its best work when you have a complete first draft.

To engage both parts of the brain at once is to indulge in the myth of multitasking. So, allocate one portion of your day to writing ( I like to wake up early ) and another part for revising your work with the right editing tools (I like the afternoons).

Separating both tasks will help you write first drafts faster.

It’s also what most writers do before they send their work to a professional for review.

If you want to get the most out of your time spent editing, consider the following two tips. 

Add them to your usual editing process, and you are guaranteed to see a monumental difference in the effectiveness of your editing.

1. Getting Ready to Edit Your First Draft

After spending weeks or months writing about a topic or story, the work becomes too hot to touch, let alone edit.

When you finish your first draft, let it sit in your computer for a few days (or longer depending on the length of your work).

Swim. Run. Meditate . Eat steak in an expensive restaurant. Take the dog for an overdue walk. Do something that has nothing to do with writing.

This is essential to any creative process.

Your ideas will cool, and your memory fade. Later, when you open up that messy first draft, you’ll look at it and think ‘Oh yeah, I remember this.’

Now, change the line spacing of your work to double-spaced, change the font to Courier New and the size to 12.

Many professional journalists and sub-editors format their work this way because it’s easy on the eye and takes approximately one minute to read a page.  This simplifies spotting mistakes in sentence structure and punctuation. It also gives you plenty of space for writing on your manuscript.

Better, yet download the font Courier Prime . This revised version of the Courier font looks better on larger screens and has all the benefits of its older brother.

Font choice aside, print out your work, sit down at a quiet table and read your first draft in one go.

Confession:  I feel guilty about the paper I use while editing, and I have great intentions to plant a small forest one day.

2. Marking Up Your Manuscript

Remember using peer checklists in school? You’d ravage a classmate’s essay and rip apart their thesis statement until the paper covered in red ink. 

This editing process is the same, except you are combing through your pieces to find and fix common writing mistakes .

Please don’t feel disheartened if your first read-through disappoints. The American editor Sol Stein likens the process of reviewing the first draft to performing triage  on a patient, and that’s what you’re about to do with a red pen.

To get the most out of this self-editing technique, strike through words with your pen, use arrows to indicate where you want to move your sentences and write in the spaces between each sentence.

Your markups don’t have to make sense to anyone but you, and if you’re in doubt about a change, circle the sentence or word with your pen and decide on this edit later.

Unless you have access to a writing center or some eagle-eyed friends who can write and edit, read your pieces aloud.

I sometimes read my pieces aloud and record myself using the voice memo app on my phone.

Then, I listen back to this recording and mark up the manuscript. The act of saying something aloud helps identify problems in a way my eyes can’t.

Now that you have a sense of your manuscript, you’re going to edit it in at least three different ways.

During this round, concern yourself with how you’ve organized your book chapter as a whole rather than the finer points of grammar.

For example, during this edit, I like to read the introduction and conclusion and see if they gel with each other.

Ask yourself:

• Does my introduction and topic sentence invoke curiosity in the reader?
• Do I have an engaging thesis statement?
• Do I invoke at least one of the five senses on each page?
• Are there visual elements in my chapter?
• What’s the weakest part of this chapter? Now, can I cut it?
• Have I included metaphors or similes that, upon reflection, don’t stand up in the narrative?
• Is each of the key paragraphs and sections in this chapter of an appropriate length ?
• Have I suitably broken up each section in my chapters?
• Do I need to reformat my piece or source images?
• Am I happy with the tone of this chapter?
• Are there obvious gaps in my research or stories I need to flesh out?

Like a general surveying the battlefield before marshalling his troops, it’s your job to take stock of your book chapter in relation to the rest of your book .

Address the big problems by asking yourself:

• Do I need to interview  an additional source for the chapter?
• Does the central argument  stand up?
• Have I told an emotional story that resonates with my reader?
• Can I strengthen  my arguments?
• Have I brought an original insight  into the narrative?
• Is the central idea  or story specific to this chapter alone or do I elaborate on it elsewhere?

Ideally, your chapter should fall naturally alongside the preceding and proceeding chapters, be of a similar length and have a title consistent with the tone.

It’s also sometimes pleasing to sign-post or reference different chapters in your book at this point too, i.e. “I’ll talk more about this in Ch.5” and so on.

While editing The Power of Creativ ity , I stepped back and looked at my book as a whole before dumping two unnecessary chapters and starting a new one.

I was less concerned with pretty little sentences or usage of the passive voice than I was with arranging my book in a way that agreed with readers.

Line-editing is like polishing your car. You can spend hours doing it and still be unsatisfied with how it looks. That said, it helps to know the basics.

The rules listed below are crucial for editing any introduction, body paragraph, or conclusion. And they will improve your writing skills .

1. Use the active voice 

The post was edited by me.

I hired an editor to fix my book .

That’s better.

The active voice keeps your articles consistent and crisp. If “were” and “was” frequently appear, you are likely using a passive voice.

The passive voice fails to engage readers and sounds clunky. Instead, place the subject at the beginning of the sentence. 

Read our guide: What is the Passive Voice?

2. Choose a consistent verb tense

Are you discussing the past, present, or future? Try sticking to one verb tense when possible. Instead of saying, “The documents are filed by the employees,” say, “The employees file the documents.” 

3. Avoid telling the reader what isn’t happening

I’m not stating this rule for no good reason. Here are some examples:

• “She didn’t speak.” – “She stayed silent.” 
• “He didn’t go.” – “He stayed home.”
• “The coffee shop never opened.” – “The coffee shop remained shut throughout the day.”
• “I’m not stating this rule for no good reason” – “I’m stating this rule for a good reason.”

4. Revise unnecessary words

Look closely for unnecessary adverbs (there’s one) and pointless adjectives (there’s another). 

Adverbs typically appear as “-ly” words, like closely. Adverbs add unnecessary fluff and can tire your reader out. Instead, opt for a precise noun or verb. Here’s an example – He hastily grabbed the hammer off the table. He snatched the hammer off the table. 

Further, avoid the words ‘up’ and ‘down.’ “He jumped up in the air.” “She sat down in the hallway.” 

5. Eliminate redundancies

Trust your reader’s knowledge enough to leave out redundancies. They will know what you mean.

“He blinked his eyes.” – Instead, “He blinked.”

“She grabbed it with her hand.” – How else would she grab it?

“He nodded his head.” – Instead, “He nodded.”

6. Eliminate clichés like your life depends on it.

Clichés include words, phrases, and events. Don’t be too predictable. 

For example – A woman drops her pen only to be met by the eyes of her future love interest kneeling to pick it up. – We all saw that coming. 

7. Simplify clunky language

Reading a piece aloud helps. If you stumble over a sentence, it probably contains clunky word choice.

8. Attributing dialogue tags? Just say, ‘said.’

She gesticulated. He grimaced. We giggled. “That’s not how people talk,” your editor said. Instead of using a verb to describe a character’s dialogue, use ‘said.’

9. Spot moments of lazy writing

Do you make a living from your books? Or do you earn a living from your books? This rule also applies to the use of which, that , who, whom, can, may, lay, lie, less, fewer, further, farther, in to, and into. 

10. Avoid using the same word over and over and over…

Scrivener and Grammarly will help overused words. A thesaurus is useful too.

Check out our round-up of the best grammar checkers .

11. Kill your mixed metaphors

Your readers are watching you like you’re a hawk. If you’re going to use a metaphor, it needs to make sense. The purpose of a metaphor is to make a concept or idea more understandable.

12. Avoid complicated word choice 

Because your exasperated readers won’t have the inclination to ruminate on your warblings. Your academic word choice may look smart, but you will lose readers faster than you can search for your thesaurus.

Complicated language can further distract your reader from the narrative and disrupt their reading flow. 

13. Use suitable formatting

Put key words in italics and bold, and break things up with lists like this.

14. Review your punctuation

Unless you’re tweeting like Donald Trump on social media, those exclamation marks have got to go!!!

Review all punctuation, including semicolons, commas, a single vs. double quotation mark, double quotation marks, hyphens, and apostrophes. Speaking of commas…

15. Love the comma

“Let’s eat, grandma.” isn’t quite the same as “Let’s eat grandma.” Commas are crucial to correct sentence structure. With that said, avoid comma splices, or rather, connecting two independent clauses with a comma instead of a colon, semicolon, or conjunction. 

16. Remove your modifiers

You possibly include them because they simply sound good. And your reader’s reaction? Really ?! Similar to adverbs and unnecessary adjectives, modifiers provide fluff and lead to chunky sentence structure.

17. Check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors

Them thar ttypos keep me up at nite. 

Note – Spell check won’t catch grammatical errors like the accidental use of ‘a’ instead of ‘as,’ or not using capital letters for proper nouns, nor will it find the wrong use of words like ‘their,’ ‘they’re,’ and ‘there’. If possible, have a second set of eyes edit your spelling and grammatical errors to ensure the use of the correct word.

Check out our guide to the best spell checker software .

18. AVOID CAPITAL LETTERS

Unless you are using capital letters to capitalize proper nouns or the first word of a sentence, AVOID using them. Capital letters appear dramatic and abrasive. 

19. Cut it down

Brevity is clarity. Cut 10%. Slashing through adverbs, adjectives, modifiers, and unnecessary sentences is a great place to start.

20. Write compelling subheadings

Please, don’t begin with a dull “introduction” and end it with a stereotypical “conclusion”. Headings are the first thing a reader’s eye will spot. Use headings and subheadings as an opportunity to intrigue your reader and lure them in.

Oh, and don’t forget to run the Alien from Mars test .

21. Check for instances of inadvertent plagiarism

Inadvertent plagiarism describes using a piece of research or an idea from another writer without properly citing or referencing the source. It’s a particularly serious issue in academia.

If you’re a worried student writer, you can use a plagiarism checker to review essays for this accidental error.

Great writing is rewriting.

You may write, review, edit and rewrite your drafts many times. Or you may go through this cycle once.

Take it sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph and chapter by chapter. As you self-edit and write (but not at the same time!), your book will teach you how to finish it.

While improving your second or third draft, enlist the help of a family member, friend and ask them to provide frank feedback.

Later on, enlist a professional editor (and proofreader) and ask them to help you turn your self-edited draft into something you’re proud to publish.

That said, some writers rework drafts up until it goes to the printing press, and thanks to lowering cost of self-publishing , you can even rewrite your articles after publication.

But please, don’t get stuck on a merry-go-round  of reworking drafts without an end in sight.

Diminishing returns will set in. Instead, accept that while your drafts will never be perfect, it’s as good as it can be.

And that’s all your readers can ask.

What Else Should You Edit?

The checklist above doesn’t include checking for run-on sentences (besides comma splices), sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement, or the proper use of page numbers. 

Well, there are hundreds of elements to check for while editing a manuscript. Therefore, engage a professional editor and proofreader after you have finished self-editing.  

As the writer, it’s your job to eliminate run-ons and sentence fragments. Learning how to do this is part of the process. 

That said, the tips included in the checklist will help you identify mistakes many writers are unaware of. 

This process involves checking for grammar and punctuation mistakes , and also checking for common spelling errors , as these are critical elements while editing and proofreading.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription and get your free checklist.

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Additional Editing Resources

For grammar, style, and proofreading:

• Grammarly – this is my proofreading and grammar checker application  of choice. It includes a style guide and costs USD29.95 per month.
• After the Deadline  is a somewhat less powerful but still useful alternative to Grammarly . It’s free.
• ProWritingAid  integrates with popular writing applications like Word and Scrivener. It costs USD40 per year. Read this review of ProWritingAid vs Grammarly

For improving your pieces:

• Autocrit is a critiquing tool for fiction writers. It costs USD29 per month.
• Hemingway Editor  – this tool will help you figure out which words to cut and which sentences to shorten. It’s free.

Want more? Check out this list of copy-editing software .

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Coyne, Shawn (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 346 Pages - 04/27/2015 (Publication Date)

• Stein, Sol (Author)
• 320 Pages - 01/25/2000 (Publication Date) - St. Martin's Griffin (Publisher)

• Strunk Jr., William (Author)
• 105 Pages - 07/23/1999 (Publication Date) - Pearson (Publisher)

Editing Checklist: FAQs

An editing checklist is a one or two-page document that lists all of the issues to check for, while reviewing a piece. For example, instances of the passive voice, common spelling mistakes and so on. It also provides an overview of tone of voice and house style.

Its purpose is three-fold. Firstly, it can save a writer time while reviewing his or her work before publication. Secondly, it can help an editor create a system for proofreading and for fixing editorial issues faster. Thirdly, you can use this checklist to collaborate with other editors or writers.

Editing is a broader concept that describes everything from developmental editing to copyediting. It refers to the entire process of improving a manuscript. Copy editing describes working on specific sentences and paragraphs so they’re precise and clear rather than the structure of an entire piece.

Writing the first draft is the hard part. Editing is more fun because you can discard parts of an article, web page or chapter that don’t work. You can also clarify your ideas and insert additional imagery, metaphor and even humor. As Stephen King said, “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

PaperTrue provides copyediting and proofreading services to writers, entrepreneurs, and academics. Based in India, the company employs over 100 editors and works with writers, academics, entrepreneurs and executives around the world.

In this interview, CEO Neha Vaidya explains:

• Why every writer should work with an editor
• How to prepare your story, screenplay or book for an editor
• How much editing and proofreading costs
• What to expect from your editor

And lots more

I started by asking Neha to explain a little more about how PaperTrue helps writers.

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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The Ultimate Essay Checklist

#scribendiinc

Getting Started

Essay writing: it might not be your favorite thing in the world, but the essay editing experts at Scribendi are here to change that by making it a little less scary and a lot more fun! (Okay—perhaps "fun" is a bit strong. How about "bearable"?)

While there are four main types of essays—expository, persuasive, analytical, and argumentative—the basic structure of any essay is the same:

• An introductory paragraph
• At least three body paragraphs
• A concluding paragraph
• A bibliography

Generally, the higher your level of education, the more complex your essay structure will be. While high school students typically stick with the five-paragraph essay, university and graduate students are expected to discuss topics that require more than five paragraphs to flesh out. Whatever type of essay you're writing, following this basic format will help you accomplish your intended goal.

This ultimate essay checklist will provide you with everything you need to unleash your knowledge and express your creativity while following standard essay-writing conventions. This essay checklist will show you how to write a stellar essay of any style, and it will give you the confidence to explore and write about any topic.

General Tips

• Get an early start. It's much easier to come up with and organize your ideas when you're not pressed for time and are able to conduct proper research. The earlier you start, the easier it will be . . . so don't procrastinate!
• Choose a topic. Your instructor will likely give you a handful of topics to choose from or a general topic area. Depending on the instructions you're given, you will have to select and refine the topic. You can choose something you're already interested in or something you know nothing about—either way, you'll be doing your research and learning along the way.
• Use various sources of information. With the vast amount of information available today, you're far from limited when it comes to choosing your sources. Use books, websites, journal articles, research studies, interviews—the world is your oyster! Just remember to keep track of your sources so that you can cite them properly and add them to your bibliography. Also check what kinds of sources your professor wants: primary, secondary, or both?

• Do not plagiarize. Cite your work and give credit where it's due. Do not take credit for others' thoughts or ideas, and make yourself aware of the basic rules for avoiding plagiarism .
• Create an outline. Make a rough outline of the sections and points of your essay. Writing your ideas down will help you organize your thoughts and see what you need to add, change, or rearrange.
• Provide evidence. Use evidence from your research to support your ideas. Each body paragraph will contain an original idea, but you will need to back it up with evidence to make it credible.
• Don't use "I" statements or make sweeping generalizations. Stay objective, and be specific.
• Grab your audience's attention. Come up with an attention-grabbing title and introduction that will make your reader want more.
• Use logic. Within each paragraph and throughout your essay, keep your ideas coherent and linear.
• Use an essay style that complements your content (and is in accordance with your professor's guidelines). There are four main types of essays:
• Expository : The writer explains an idea or issue to the reader.
• Persuasive : The writer tries to convince the reader to take his or her position on an idea, issue, or topic.
• Analytical : The writer examines and analyzes an idea, issue, or topic.
• Argumentative : The writer tries to prove that his or her position is correct.
• Answer what , why , and how . Regardless of the type of essay you write, it should answer each of these questions.
• Don't feel obliged to write your first draft in order, from introduction to bibliography. It can be difficult to write a completely linear essay when you have lots of different ideas, so start by writing whatever you're ready to write—you can put all the pieces together later. This will make the process easier and less stressful.

Introduction

The introductory paragraph broadly introduces your topic by giving your reader an overview of what your essay will be about and the points that will be discussed. It often starts with a general statement that acts as the topic sentence for the paragraph, and it provides a general discussion that leads to a specific thesis statement at the end of the paragraph.

• Do not explicitly explain your intentions. For example, do not say, "The purpose of this essay is to . . ." Instead, allow the topic sentence to help your reader identify and determine your purpose. By the time readers get to the end, they will have a comprehensive understanding of your essay and its intent.
• Choose a thesis statement that the body of your essay will be able to support. This thesis will be the "hook" of your essay, and it is often one of the last sentences in the introductory paragraph. A hook is a line that grabs the reader's attention—it "hooks" them, just like a fishing hook grabs a fish. The goal of the hook is to keep your reader interested and to clearly indicate the purpose of the essay.

The body of the essay develops the argument that was outlined in the introduction.

• Use topic sentences. The topic sentence of each paragraph provides a brief summary of what the paragraph is about.

• Set up the transition to your next point. The concluding sentence of each paragraph should function as a hook and transition into the next paragraph.
• Discuss and support a different idea in each paragraph. Limit each paragraph to one main idea. The topic sentence of each paragraph will help you organize your own thoughts and let the reader know what that paragraph is about. If you're writing a five-paragraph essay, follow this general outline:
• The first paragraph contains the strongest argument and ties into the hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. Discuss your first point, elaborate on it, and provide evidence in support of it. Close with a transitional hook.
• The second paragraph contains a more neutral argument, and it ties into the hook at the end of the first paragraph. Discuss your second point, elaborate on it, and provide evidence to support it. Close with a transitional hook.
• The third paragraph contains another strong argument and ties into the hook at the end of the second paragraph. Discuss your third point, elaborate on it, and provide evidence to support it. Close with a transitional sentence that leads smoothly into the concluding paragraph.

In contrast to the introductory paragraph, the concluding paragraph starts out specific (by reintroducing the thesis) and becomes more general. It ties your ideas together and brings your paper to a culmination.

The concluding paragraph provides a general discussion of your findings and shows the reader that you have accomplished what you intended to at the outset.

• Restate your thesis (though not necessarily using the exact same words). In contrast to the introductory paragraph, the concluding paragraph starts out specific (by reintroducing the thesis) and becomes more general. It ties your ideas together and brings your paper to a close.
• Discuss your findings based on your research and evidence. Has your thesis been proven?
• Don't introduce any new ideas. The point here is to sum up and wrap up your essay, not to confuse readers by providing new information.
• End on a high note. You can finish the essay in a variety of ways. For example, you might provide suggestions for future research, state a call to action, share a quote, or ask a question. Depending on the topic and purpose of your essay, choose a closing line that will fit well with the rest of your essay's structure and leave readers thinking " Wow! "

Bibliography/Works Cited

The Bibliography or Works Cited page is a list of all the references you used throughout the paper. It can be alphabetized or numbered depending on the style guide you are using. While a Bibliography includes every resource you consulted when preparing your essay, a Works Cited page includes only the resources cited in your essay. Find out which is required by consulting the style guide assigned by your professor.

• To make creating your reference list easier, use citation software . There are many different options out there, and several of the software programs are free (especially if you're enrolled in a university that has a subscription to one of the services). These citation software programs essentially create your bibliography for you, making the process fast, easy, and accurate.

Review, Revise, Rework

• Give yourself a day or two before rereading and revising your essay. This way, you will have a fresh set of eyes, making it easier to catch any mistakes.
• Don't be afraid to rearrange paragraphs, delete sentences, or add information. Reading through your essay a few days after writing it makes it much easier to see where and how the structure needs to be changed.
• Correct any errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Check the essay yourself, have a friend review it, or better yet, have your essay edited by a professional editing service .
• Avoid colloquialisms and contractions. ('Cause it just ain't professional in an academic setting. Lol.)
• Analyze the flow of your essay , and make sure that your ideas and paragraphs flow smoothly from one to the next.
• Cut out any extraneous information or fluff. We've all done it, but adding extra words to make a word count requirement doesn't fly with most professors, and it will definitely detract from the strength of your essay.

Now, it's Time to Write!

It may seem overwhelming, but writing an essay doesn't have to be stressful. After coming up with a topic, doing some research, and creating a basic outline, you're ready to start filling in the gaps. Using primary and/or secondary research, back up your ideas and support them with credible sources. Just don't forget to cite those sources! Once you've written your first draft, take a day or two away from your paper so you will have a clear head when you come back to revise it. As suggested, you may even want to have your paper edited by the professionals at Scribendi , who will not only correct any surface-level errors but will also check for consistency, clarity, and cohesiveness, providing comments and suggestions along the way.

Essay writing is so much easier if you're equipped with the right tools, and that's what we hope we've given you with this ultimate essay checklist. Now that you know how to write an essay (regardless of the style), we're confident in your ability to write an essay about any topic that your instructor might have in store for you. Happy writing!

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The College Essay Editing Checklist

There are really 4 steps to writing the college essay. The first is thinking about how to answer the application essay prompt, the second is writing the first draft, the third is the editing stage, and the fourth is polishing your last draft.

Editing is one of the most important steps, and it’s probably the hardest. For this reason we are offering a checklist to help you with the editing stage.

After you have decided what you want to write about to answer the prompt (Stage 1), the first draft (Stage 2) should be an open flow, almost a free-writing stage. You want to try to get everything down, even if it doesn’t always make sense. It’s important to get your thoughts down. We call this stage the vomiting stage. You are “throwing every thing up” on your paper: ideas, word, memories and more. That’s why Stage 3, the edit, is so hard. You have to clean up the vomit.

Once you have written your first draft, it is best to let it ferment for a few days. So give yourself time to write your application essay; it takes more than one night! Letting your first draft sit for a few days is important to get away from what you have written before you edit so you can look at what you have written with a more objective and fresher eye.

Editing is not polishing. So many students make this mistake. Polishing is fixing up punctuation, changing usage errors, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. The editing stage is not that neat.

When editing you need to

• Re-organize your paragraphs,
• Rewrite your paragraphs to develop them more,
• Rewrite sentences and whole sections for details,
• Rewrite sentences to make them stronger and more varied,
• Experiment with word changes, and
• CUT, cut whole pieces of things that do not lead you directly to answering the essay prompt.

Here is a checklist to help you through the editing process:

• Check out your beginning paragraph – it does not have to have a thesis statement; rather it should capture the reader’s attention.
• Now look at the conclusion – does it pull your ideas together and speak to the essay prompt?
• Does your overall essay show, not tell?
• Are there specific details throughout? There should be no generalities or vagueness.
• Is the voice of the essay personal and human? You as a person with your sense of humor and your way of relating to friends should show through.
• Are you using active voice, strong verbs, and interesting phrases?
• Is your wording simple and clear rather than studious, plodding and abstract?
• Does each paragraph move forward to your final point?
• Are the paragraphs ordered well for effect and to avoid confusion?
• Are there transitions between paragraphs and a smooth flow from one thought to another?
• Are your sentences clear and varied?

When you check these things out and then correct them by re-writing, you are doing a true edit.  The polishing can be the final step.

Save yourself some editing time by brushing up on the most common mistakes essay writers make . If you want to ensure that your essay really shines, consider using a professional editing service.

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About the author.

Content created by retired College Admissions consultants.

An Essay Revision Checklist

Guidelines for Revising a Composition

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• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Revision  means looking again at what we have written to see how we can improve it. Some of us start revising as soon as we begin a rough  draft —restructuring and rearranging sentences as we work out our ideas. Then we return to the draft, perhaps several times, to make further revisions.

Revision as Opportunity

Revising is an opportunity to reconsider our topic, our readers, even our purpose for writing . Taking the time to rethink our approach may encourage us to make major changes in the content and structure of our work.

As a general rule, the best time to revise is not right after you've completed a draft (although at times this is unavoidable). Instead, wait a few hours—even a day or two, if possible—in order to gain some distance from your work. This way you'll be less protective of your writing and better prepared to make changes. 

One last bit of advice: read your work aloud when you revise. You may hear problems in your writing that you can't see.

"Never think that what you've written can't be improved. You should always try to make the sentence that much better and make a scene that much clearer. Go over and over the words and reshape them as many times as is needed," (Tracy Chevalier, "Why I Write." The Guardian , 24 Nov. 2006).

Revision Checklist

• Does the essay have a clear and concise main idea? Is this idea made clear to the reader in a thesis statement early in the essay (usually in the introduction )?
• Does the essay have a specific purpose (such as to inform, entertain, evaluate, or persuade)? Have you made this purpose clear to the reader?
• Does the introduction create interest in the topic and make your audience want to read on?
• Is there a clear plan and sense of organization to the essay? Does each paragraph develop logically from the previous one?
• Is each paragraph clearly related to the main idea of the essay? Is there enough information in the essay to support the main idea?
• Is the main point of each paragraph clear? Is each point adequately and clearly defined in a topic sentence and supported with specific details ?
• Are there clear transitions from one paragraph to the next? Have key words and ideas been given proper emphasis in the sentences and paragraphs?
• Are the sentences clear and direct? Can they be understood on the first reading? Are the sentences varied in length and structure? Could any sentences be improved by combining or restructuring them?
• Are the words in the essay clear and precise? Does the essay maintain a consistent tone ?
• Does the essay have an effective conclusion —one that emphasizes the main idea and provides a sense of completeness?

Once you have finished revising your essay, you can turn your attention to the finer details of editing and proofreading your work.

Line Editing Checklist

• Is each sentence  clear and complete ?
• Can any short, choppy sentences be improved by  combining  them?
• Can any long, awkward sentences be improved by breaking them down into shorter units and recombining them?
• Can any wordy sentences be made more  concise ?
• Can any  run-on sentences  be more effectively  coordinated  or  subordinated ?
• Does  each verb agree with its subject ?
• Are all  verb  forms correct and consistent?
• Do  pronouns  refer clearly to the appropriate  nouns ?
• Do all  modifying words and phrases  refer clearly to the words they are intended to modify?
• Is each word  spelled  correctly?
• Is the  punctuation  correct?
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College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

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The college admissions process is a human process. An admissions committee filled with real people will evaluate your application, and these people will choose whether to advocate for you to gain admission to the university. So in order to be accepted, you need to stand out from the other applicants and persuade the admissions committee to choose you over students with a similar academic profile. Luckily, college essays are specifically designed to be your tool to stand out in the admissions process. 

Given that college essays are so important, it’s important to make sure that they are absolutely perfect before you submit them. How do you make sure your college essays are ready to send to colleges? Make sure you’ve gone through this checklist before you hit that “submit” button! 

Why Are College Essays So Important? 

A college application has many components – test scores, grades and coursework, your extracurricular profile, recommendation letters, interviews, and, of course, your essays. So why are the essays such an important part if there are so many other components of your application to consider? 

Well, most colleges receive thousands of applicants, many of whom have similar academic and extracurricular profiles. In fact, for every spot in a selective university’s admitted class, there are at least four outstanding applicants with similar grades and test scores. So how do admissions committees choose among so many students who have such strong potential? They use their essays to decide who would best fit in with the campus community. 

For this reason, your college essays aren’t just about showing off your abilities and accomplishments. It’s about showing who you are as a person, what your values are, and what you’re passionate about. That’s no small task for a short essay. Every word is going to count, so follow the checklist below to make sure that your essay is as strong as it can be. 

College Essay Checklist: Before You Submit

1. does your essay share who you are and what you care about.

Your essay needs to be personal. It should share your personality, goals, and voice. Even if a prompt doesn’t explicitly ask you who you are and what you care about, you should use it as an opportunity to showcase your personal qualities. For example, take the following supplemental essay prompt from the University of Chicago’s 2020 Application: 

What can actually be divided by zero?

At first glance, this prompt may seem confusing. After all, didn’t we all learn in elementary school math classes that nothing can be divided by zero? More abstract, philosophical prompts like this one are actually ripe opportunities for students to showcase who they are and how they think. 

So if you answered a prompt like this very practically, e.g. explaining that the laws of mathematics prove that no real number can be divided by zero, you’re missing out on a key opportunity to show the admissions committee your capability for creativity and abstract thought. Instead of answering a prompt like this literally, you ought to think critically about your own life and see if you can metaphorically or rhetorically link the question to something you have gone through or accomplished. 

Alternatively, if you’re more of a logical person and want to answer the question analytically, make sure that you are showcasing your knowledge of various theorems and strategies, and be sure to cite where you learned them. Either way, you are showing the admissions committee how your brain works and how you go about solving problems. 

Remember: the goal of an essay is, first and foremost, to showcase yourself. There are no right or wrong answers in college essays, so as long your essay tells the committee something important about you. 

2. Do your essays form a portfolio that accurately represents you?

While having to write so many essays is a lot of work, there is an upside. Having multiple essays means you can use each essay to display a different aspect of yourself and your accomplishments. That way, holistically, your application will give a very representative picture of who you are, and you won’t have to leave anything out. 

So when you’re evaluating your essays, ask yourself: do your essays depict as many facets of yourself as possible? Specifically, have you repeated a story, experience or quality about yourself in any of the essays you’re going to send to the same college? If you have, then consider editing one of the essays to highlight something that you haven’t yet shared with the admissions committee. The more you can share with them in a limited amount of space, the easier it will be for the admissions committee to imagine how you would fit in at their university. 

3. Did you answer the prompt? 

Okay, so we’ve talked a lot about making sure that your values, passions, and accomplishments are showcased in your essays, even if the prompt is more abstract. This is certainly important, but it’s also important to make sure you’re showcasing yourself in the context of the essay prompt that was given to you. In other words, you should be sure that at some point in your essay, you answer the essay prompt clearly. If you don’t, you risk coming across as a student who doesn’t know how to follow basic directions. 

Moreover, you need to make sure that you answer every part of the essay prompt given. Some essay prompts will just have one part. Some will have many. If you have to answer an essay prompt with multiple parts, be sure you address all of them. Take the following essay prompts from the 2019-2020 College Application Cycle: 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 2019-2020: 

Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (200-250 words)

University of California : 

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?  (350 words)

In both of these prompts, you are asked to respond to two related questions. If you were to answer the MIT prompt, you would need to not only describe a significant challenge but explain how you overcame it. For the University of California prompt, you’d not only need to explain your greatest skill but outline how you’ve cultivated it over time. If you miss any of those parts in your response, you will not have fully answered the prompt. 

4. Did You Stay Within the Word Count? 

Most main college essays (like the Common App essays) have a word limit of anywhere from 250-650 words. Supplemental essay prompts generally have word limit of 100-400 words. Either way, you need to make sure that you stay very close to the upper word limit in your response. 

As a general rule, you should try to stay within 10% of the upper word limit. So if the word limit for one of your essays is 650 words, your essay shouldn’t be fewer than 585 words. Keep in mind that most online applications will cut off your essay at the word limit, so try not to go over the word count. However, on the other extreme, you don’t want to make your essay too short, as it may make it seem like you don’t care about the application. After all, every extra bit of space in your essays is an opportunity to further impress the admissions committee, so you should take advantage of it. 

For some more details on how long your college essays should be, check out our previous post entitled How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What is the Ideal Length?

5. Did You Proofread? 

Here are some things to look out for as you look over your essay:

Incorrect grammar and spelling mistakes. These can make a well-thought-out essay seem subpar in the eyes of an admissions committee. 

Awkward or formal wording. Read your essay aloud and listen to how it sounds. If it doesn’t sound natural, then you’re likely not displaying your authentic self to the admissions committee. Consider shifting some of the wording to sound more like something you would actually say, even if it means you have to take out a bit of the advanced vocabulary and complex sentence structure.

Instances of telling, instead of showing. One of the biggest mistakes students make is to tell, instead of show. Here’s an example of telling: “It was a rainy and gloomy day.” Here’s an example of showing: “The gray clouds hovered ominously above the lake. I felt a drop. Then another. And another. It began pouring, and I frantically tried to row the canoe back to shore.” It’s much more engaging to read the second example, as you feel as if you’re there with the writer. 

Repeated sentence structure and vocab. Do you use the same word over and over again? Do you begin lots of sentences in a row with “I”? As you’re reading your essay, make sure that you’re using varied language to keep things interesting.

Inconsistent style. While your language should be varied, your style shouldn’t. If you use contractions or acronyms, use them throughout the essay. If you begin the essay in past tense, keep it that way, or make sure there’s clear demarcation when you shift tenses.

Also, if you’re reused an essay from another school’s application, give it an extra read-through to make sure that you’ve replaced all of the mentions of and references to the other college. You don’t want the admissions committee from UC Berkeley reading about how thrilled you are to take advantage of the opportunities that Tufts has to offer. It would not bode well for your likelihood of acceptance to Berkeley. 

Of course, it is okay to reuse essays if the prompts are similar, but just be sure to double and triple-check that it doesn’t seem like you’re reusing an essay meant for another college. Also, if you’re answering the famous “ Why This College ” essay, we at CollegeVine recommend that you not reuse another essay. This essay should include specific resources and opportunities that you plan to take advantage of at each university, so you shouldn’t be able to use the same essay for two different schools. In fact, if you’re able to reuse a “Why This College” essay, that’s a sign that you need to rework the essay and make it more specific to the college. 

6. Did You Get a Second and Third Set of Eyes on Your Essay?

It’s important to get another person or two to read your essay before you submit. The best people to look at your essays are those who are well-versed in creative essay writing, but also people who know you well. Older peers who have gone through the admissions process successfully can offer some of the best advice. English or Communications teachers who know you well also make great proofreaders, as do writing-proficient friends and family. 

If you’re not sure who to ask, you can also use our free peer essay review tool . You can get feedback on your essays, and improve your own writing skills by reviewing others’ essays.

7. Did You Revise and Proofread Again?

Once you’ve read through your essays and had others give suggestions, make the necessary edits and corrections. Then, be sure you proofread your essays one more time before you hit submit. You should try not to submit an essay that hasn’t been read at least a few times all the way through, without any changes. Consider even reading your essay out loud and printed out (have a pen at the ready!), as you may catch things you missed when reading silently.

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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Revision Checklist

• Have I conveyed the significance of my ideas to my readers? Is my purpose clear?
• Does my essay meet the requirements of my assignment?
• Is my focus too broad? Have I narrowed my topic well?
• Is my organization plan effective?
• Is there a way to make the concept I am discussing clearer and more focused?
• Is the voice or style I am using appropriate for my audience?
• Have I clearly defined any terms used?
• Have I considered any possible objections to my position, if I take a position in this research essay?
• Do I provide clear transitions between my ideas? Are there any gaps between my points?
• Are there any points that need further explanation or detail?
• Are there any points that need to be cut because they are not related to my focus?
• Are my sources credible? Have I addressed this credibility in my writing?
• Have I integrated my source material smoothly and effectively by providing signal phrases and/or context for this information?
• Have I put some source material in my own words as much as possible and used quotes only when necessary?
• Have I properly acknowledged all of my source material, including paraphrases and summaries?

When you revise, you’ll want to work to “see” your writing as your audience might see it. It’s important to allow some time between drafting and revision to really help you “re-see” your work with fresh eyes.

The Revision Checklist found below will help you focus on some key issues as you edit. There are two versions of the checklist below. The first is a printable PDF file, and the second is an interactive PDF file.  In some browsers, you may need to download or save this file to be able to utilize all of its functionality.

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The Ultimate Checklist for Editing Your Essay

There is no learner that has gone through high school that has not done an essay. Writing and efficient communication are essential in the academic journey for tons of reasons. It enhances the students’ critical thinking skills and allows them to learn about the real world.

Through essays, learning institutions can assess students’ understanding of subjects and materials. Essays contribute to students’ grades, and considering they have to do many of them while studying, they need to do it right. While the structure of an essay and research plays a significant role in an essay’s success, editing is the key to a brilliant grade.

Here is an editing checklist for an excellent essay:

1. Assess the structure of the essay

Whether it is a history or psychology essay, they all have structures. The standard essay structure, which is the introduction, body, and conclusion, must be maintained. The structure ensures there is a logical flow of ideas, and points are not all over.

Your essay should have a developing argument. Ensure that it has structure before you proceed to edit it further. You can rearrange paragraphs to bring order to your paper; you can also search for rewrite essay  services for support.

2. Eliminate redundant words

Filler words or redundancy can be a downer to your essay. They do not add substance to your writing and may interfere with the clarity of your points. Filler words can weigh down the power of your sentences and lower the quality of your essay .

Very good words to help you avoid using “very” very often:

Your essay should be clear and concise, and you should get rid of words you don’t need. An excellent example of the filler words you should eliminate includes: in order to, that, basically, really, just, and so. Do this, and you will add focus to your essay.

3. Simplify the complex words

Using complicated words will not make your essay powerful. Do not give your reader a hard time reading your essay. Read through your paper and replace the complicated words with simpler words. Also, you are likely to use the wrong words in your quest for sophisticated words.

Complicated words will also interfere with the flow of your essay . Do not overuse complex words, and your writing will look authentic.

4. Trim the long sentences

Long sentences are hard to read and follow. While editing , pay attention to the length of the sentences and prune them if they are long. You can break the long sentences to form two sentences. Alternatively, you can use punctuation to give the reader a break.

The other way you can shorten long sentences is by eliminating unnecessary words . Sentences that have a maximum of 20 words are ideal. The same applies to paragraphs. Keep them as short as possible. 4 to 6 sentences in every paragraph is enough.

Shorter sentences capture the attention of the reader. They also make your content easy to understand and recall. Short sentences also create emphasis on your point and will make your paragraphs stronger.

Keeping sentences short enhances the readability of your essay and is more welcoming to the readers.

5. Check your commas

One of the errors that people make in their writing is wrong punctuation . The lack of commas is among the punctuation errors made in writing. The lack of commas and the improper use of commas can impede the quality of your paper.

Too many commas will break the flow of your idea and will appear odd to the reader. On the other hand, the lack of commas or too few commas will make your sentence and text hard to follow.

To ensure that you are using commas the right way, read the text out loud. Where you pause, insert a comma. This way, you will be able to feel the flow of the sentences and punctuate accordingly.

6. Check for consistent spelling

A fair share of English words has more than one correct spelling. There are British, Australian, and American spellings. As much as all the spellings may be correct, it is vital to remain consistent with the spellings.

Some of the words with inconsistent spellings are organize, finalize, labor, learned, focused, and center . Watch out for the inconsistencies with the spellings and correct them. You can use grammar checkers to point out the inconsistencies.

Also, note that some of the grammar checkers might miss some of the issues. Your essay should never have different spellings.

7. Eliminate ellipses and exclamation marks

Often students think they can make their essays more captivating by using exclamation marks ❗❗❗ and ellipses. However, these should not be found in serious academic papers. Using such punctuations only impede the seriousness of your work. ❕

8. Check the formatting

Professors often provide formatting requirements when issuing assignments. You must be consistent with the instructions. Your paper might be clear of grammar errors and have the perfect paragraph length. However, if the formatting is not done right, your essay will appear incomplete.

To get a brilliant score in your essay paper , you should be consistent from the beginning to the end. Come up with a good topic and also ensure that your work is edited before submitting. The checklist above will help you come up with a flawless essay. Make sure to check out the article about the best programming languages to start a career.

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Peer editing

Peer editing can be done during class time or electronically outside of class, as the documents below--from Northwestern instructors--illustrate.  The questions that students respond to can vary according to the nature of the assignment and the purpose of the peer review.

peer editing sheets for drafts Peer editing sheets for two essay assignments in a freshman seminar.  Providing very specific questions helps the editors give useful feedback and suggestions. 

peer feedback form literature seminar Students exchange drafts in class, complete the peer feedback form, and then discuss their written comments with one another.  Students submit the forms with their drafts so that I can read them.  I frequently refer to their peers' comments when I am writing my own comments on their drafts.   

peer review Asian diaspora freshman seminar Students do a close reading of one another's drafts to provide insight into what has and has not been conveyed by the draft.

research draft peer review Prompts peer reviewers to comment on key pieces of information, logical organization, and conclusion

research paper introduction peer response Prompts peer editor to comment on introduction, and prompts author to respond to those comments

research paper peer evaluation of claims Prompts peer editor to evaluate the paper's effectiveness in supporting claims and addressing counter-arguments

peer editing science papers Prompts peer editor to complete a checklist on the paper's content, structure, and grammar

getting the most out of peer reviews A link to NU's Writing Place that explains how to make sure you benefit from sharing your writing with peers

peer review guidelines for a personal essay These guidelines from a freshman seminar are aimed at pairs of students who are exchanging drafts before meeting individually with the instructor. 

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How to Write an Explanatory Essay

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Published: May 24, 2024

A study from the English Language Teaching Educational Journal found that students encounter difficulty in organizing thoughts, generating ideas, and understanding writing processes when writing essays [1]. These are all key components of putting together a good explanatory essay. If this sounds like you, then don’t worry.

With the right approach, you can seamlessly combine all these components. This guide will give you a simple step-by-step strategy for writing an explanatory essay. It’ll also give you handy writing tips and tool suggestions, like utilizing artificial intelligence.

With this guide, you’ll be able to write an explanatory essay with confidence.

1. Develop a strong thesis statement

Crafting a strong thesis statement is the cornerstone of any well-written explanatory essay. It sets the stage for what your essay will cover and clarifies the main point you’re going to explain. Here’s how to create a thesis:

• Find the main idea : Start by pinpointing the key concept or question you want to explain. Develop a clear purpose for the essay. This will guide your research and writing process for your explanatory paper. Use other reputable explanatory essay examples to guide your ideas. This may involve exploring other explanatory essay topics within the same field.
• Be specific : A vague thesis can confuse readers. So, make sure your statement is clear. If you’re explaining a complex process, break it down to its key points. After that, break it into a clear, concise statement that’s easy to understand.
• Reflect objectivity : Explanatory essays educate and inform. They do not argue a point. So, your thesis should take an unbiased stance on the topic. It should present the facts as they are, not as you interpret them.
• Use tools like the Smodin Writer : Smodin Writer does all the heavy lifting by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. With it, you can generate an essay with a thesis statement. How, you ask? Through its dedicated thesis generator . It can create a statement that’s both strong and relevant. Plus, it can pull in all the most interesting information based on your topic to further enrich your thesis statement.

Make your thesis clear, informative, and neutral. This sets a strong foundation for an effective explanatory essay. Next, let’s look at how to gather the information you’ll need to support this thesis effectively.

2. Research and gather information

You need to conduct thorough research that will back your thesis with credible sources and relevant evidence. This will make your explanatory essay both informative and persuasive. Here’s a step-by-step guide to conducting effective research:

• Start with a plan: Put together an explanatory essay outline that includes the information you need to support your thesis. The plan should list the best sources, like academic journals, books, reputable websites, or scholarly articles.
• Use credible sources: They ensure the accuracy of your essay. Libraries, academic databases, and certified websites are excellent places to find trustworthy information.
• Seek detailed information: Look for the most current sources that explain your topic well and provide unique insights related to or opposing your thesis statement. This depth is crucial for explaining complex ideas clearly and thoroughly in your explanatory papers. Pay attention to the explanatory essay structure to guide your topic of choice (more on this later).
• Gather relevant evidence: Collect data, stats, and examples. They should directly support your main points. Make sure this evidence is directly related to your topic and enhances your narrative.
• Employ digital tools: Tools like Smodin’s Research Assistant can accelerate your research process. Smodin’s tools can help you find detailed information quickly, ensuring that the data you use is up-to-date and relevant.
• Document your sources: As you conduct research, keep a meticulous record of where your information comes from. This practice will help you make an accurate bibliography. It can save you time when you need to refer back to details or verify facts. Again, this is something that’s covered thanks to Smodin’s Citation Machine.
• Evaluate your findings: Critically assess the information you collect. Ensure it provides a balanced view and covers the necessary aspects of your topic to give a comprehensive overview of your essay.

By following these steps, you can gather a rich pool of information that provides a strong backbone for your explanatory essay. Now, you can start structuring your findings into well-organized body paragraphs.

3. Structure body paragraphs

Once you’ve gathered relevant evidence through thorough research, it’s time to organize it. You should put it into well-structured body paragraphs that follow a logical flow. Here’s how to structure each body paragraph for a strong explanatory essay:

• Decide how many paragraphs to use : It will depend on your topic’s complexity and the needed detail. Typically, three to five paragraphs are suitable, but longer essays may require more. An explanatory essay example on your topic of choice will be helpful.
• Start with a topic sentence : Each body paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph. This sentence will act as a roadmap for the paragraph, giving the reader a sense of what to expect.
• Provide supporting evidence : After the topic sentence, share the evidence from your research. Ensure the evidence is relevant and directly supports the paragraph’s topic sentence.
• Give a detailed explanation : Follow the evidence with an analysis or explanation that ties it back to the thesis statement. This step is crucial for maintaining logical flow throughout your body paragraphs.
• Use linking words : They connect body paragraphs smoothly, ensuring the reader can follow your argument.
• End each body paragraph with a closing sentence : It should sum up the point and move to the next idea.

Following this structure will help your body paragraphs support your thesis. These paragraphs will also offer a clear, detailed explanation of your essay topic. Strong body paragraphs are essential to maintain objectivity in your writing.

4. Maintain objectivity

An explanatory essay aims to inform and educate, which makes maintaining objectivity crucial. Staying neutral lets readers form their own opinions based on facts. This ensures the writing is both reliable and informative. Here’s how to maintain objectivity:

• Avoid personal opinions: Your goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Refrain from injecting your personal opinion or biases. Instead, stick to presenting factual information that supports the thesis.
• Use relevant evidence: As mentioned, ground your arguments with relevant evidence from credible sources. Back up your main points with data and use research findings and verified details. This will make the explanatory article trustworthy.
• Provide a balanced view: In cases with multiple perspectives, offer a balanced view. Cover each side fairly. Even if one view prevails in consensus, acknowledging others gives readers a broader understanding.
• Adopt neutral language: Be careful with word choice and tone. Neutral language implies words that don’t encourage or illustrate bias. This helps avoid emotionally charged phrases and keeps the writing objective.
• Cite sources accurately: Proper citation of sources provides accountability for the evidence presented. This transparency builds credibility and shows you’ve conducted research thoroughly. It’s also worth noting that different intuitions have different citation styles like APA and Chicago, which is important to note before starting your essay.
• Review for biases: After drafting your essay, review it with an eye for biases. Ensure no part leans too much on one viewpoint. And, don’t dismiss an opposing perspective without cause.

Maintaining objectivity enhances the clarity and reliability of explanatory writing. Let’s now focus on crafting an introduction and conclusion that bookend your work effectively.

5. Craft an effective introduction and conclusion

A good introduction and a strong conclusion frame your explanatory essay. They give context at the start and reinforce the main points at the end. Here’s how to craft an effective introduction and conclusion.

In the introduction:

• Hook your reader in the introduction : Use an interesting fact, a compelling quote, or a surprising statistic.
• Provide background information : Be brief and offer only the essential context the reader needs to fully understand the topic. This should give the audience a foundational understanding before diving deeper into your main points.
• Include the thesis statement : Clearly state your thesis near the end of the introduction. This statement will outline the essay’s direction and give readers a preview of the body paragraphs.

In the conclusion:

• Summarize the key points : Start your explanatory essay conclusion with a summary. It should cover the main points from the body paragraphs. This summary should help readers recall and reinforce the information they’ve just read.
• Restate the thesis : Repeat your thesis again but in a new way. Explain how the evidence from the body paragraphs supported or clarified it.
• Provide a conclusion : End the essay with a statement that wraps up the argument. This statement should resonate with the reader. It should leave them with an impression that stresses the topic’s importance.

An effective introduction and conclusion give the essay structure and coherence. They guide readers from start to finish. The next step is revising and editing your entire essay for clarity and precision.

6. Revise and check clarity

Revising and editing are key in writing. They make sure your essay is clear, joined, and polished. Here’s how to refine your writing using an explanatory essay checklist and proven academic writing techniques:

• Take a break: Before diving into revisions, step away from your essay for a few hours or even a day. This break will help you return with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot errors or inconsistencies.
• Follow an essay checklist: Create or use a checklist to ensure your essay has all the needed parts. It needs a strong intro with a clear thesis, well-structured body paragraphs, good sources, and a short conclusion. Check that your arguments follow a logical flow and that all relevant evidence is directly linked to your thesis statement.
• Check for clarity and conciseness: Academic writing needs clarity. So, make sure each paragraph and sentence conveys your point. Don’t use unnecessary jargon or overly complex language. Keep sentences concise while maintaining detailed explanations of your main points.
• Verify facts and citations: Make sure all facts, data, and quotes in the essay are accurate. Also, check that they are cited in the required academic style (e.g. MLA, APA). Improper citations can undermine the credibility of your writing.
• Review the grammar and style: Look for common grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, and awkward phrasing. Reading the essay aloud can help catch odd sentence structures or confusing wording.
• Seek feedback: Share your essay with a peer or use online tools to get constructive criticism. A second perspective can highlight issues you might have missed.

These editing steps will help you produce a polished essay that clearly explains your main points and holds up to academic scrutiny.

Explanatory Essay Format

Understanding the explanatory essay format is key to a well-structured and logical paper. Here’s a basic breakdown of the format for an explanatory essay:

Introduction paragraph

• Begin with an interesting sentence to capture the reader’s attention.
• Give a short intro. It should set the topic and outline the essay’s purpose.
• Present a clear thesis statement summarizing the main idea of the entire essay.

Body paragraphs

• Organize the body paragraphs around logical subtopics related to the essay topic.
• Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that aligns with the thesis.
• Show evidence from good sources. Also, give key details for each main point.
• Incorporate a robust concluding statement per paragraph that drives home your point and links to the ideas in the next paragraph/section.
• Summarize the key points.
• Provide a final statement that reinforces the main idea without introducing new information.
• Craft a concluding statement that leaves your teacher or professor with a lasting impression.

Following this essay outline ensures that your paper has a clear flow. This makes it easy for readers to understand and follow your argument.

Write Better Explanatory Essays With Smodin

Explanatory essays can be overwhelming. Presenting a solid argument, keeping your professor or teacher interested, and remembering conventions like citations can be a real headache.

But, a strong thesis and thorough research make them easier. Well-structured body paragraphs also help deliver a clear, insightful essay that maintains objectivity. Just remember to revise and check for accuracy!

AI-powered platforms like Smodin simplify and enhance the process of writing explanatory essays.

Smodin’s tools help craft clear and well-structured essays that meet any of your academic standards. With Smodin’s advanced research capabilities, you can gather detailed and relevant information quickly. This will save you time and improve your work.

• Plagiarism Checker : Ensure your essay maintains originality with Smodin’s plagiarism detection tool. This feature helps maintain academic integrity by checking your work against vast databases.
• Auto Citation : Cite your sources accurately without the hassle. Smodin’s auto-citation tool ensures your references are in the right format and meet your academic institution’s rules.
• Text Shortener : If your explanatory essay is too long, use Smodin’s AI writer as an essay shortener. It will help you cut your content without losing key details. This helps keep your essay clear and relevant.
• Text Rewriter : Helps paraphrase existing content, ensuring uniqueness and a fresh perspective.
• Summarizer : The Summarizer boils down long articles into short summaries. They are perfect for making an efficient outline or conclusion.