REVISING

Revision is the process of VIEWING (vising) AGAIN (re).

To properly revise something, you have to step back from what you have written and see it through new eyes.

Sometimes this means looking at each paragraph by itself, looking for focus on one idea, looking for word choice preciseness, and looking for the topic's full development.

Sometimes, you need to look at the paper as a whole, taking what you have in essay format and creating an outline based on what you have written.  Does the essay outline follow the original outline that you constructed to guide your writing?  Is this new outline better?  Does it indicate places in your essay where you have gotten off track, left things out, or have ideas out of order?

Sometimes, you need to borrow someone else's eyes.  This means that you need to print out a copy for a friend, have him read it aloud to you as you read the writing directly on your computer screen.  As your friend reads the writing, are you able to find issues that need to be modified?  Are there sentences that do not convey what you meant?  Are there un-sourced items?  Are there areas that simply do not sound right?  Are you providing vivid details and specifics to make the reader aware of your point?

Be sure to take the time to revise.  Revision makes it possible for you to SEE your writing AGAIN with clarity so that you can create a new, better draft before moving on to the editing step of the Writing Process.