Revising Your Draft

Here are some strategies for approaching the first revision, the “shape up” phase of your draft. There are a lot of opportunities here for you to add, delete, rearrange, expand, and realize what you would like to rethink or express differently.

Early Draft Questions: Reading Your Draft to Look at Structure and Content

Your introductory section of the essay 

• Do you have a working thesis? Does that thesis respond to the question on the assignment sheet?
• Are you beginning the paper with an introductory paragraph that leads the reader up to your thesis?
• Is your thesis at the end of the intro?

Early Draft Revisions: Reading Rhetorically

• What is your main point? Is the point held consistently throughout the text, or does it wander at any point?
• What information do you provide to support the central idea? Making a list of each point will help you analyze. Each paragraph should address one key point, and all paragraphs should relate to the text’s central idea.
• What kind of evidence are you using? Is your evidence based more on fact or opinion? Which type of evidence does this assignment require? Where does your evidence come from? Are the sources authoritative and credible?
• What is your main purpose? Note that this is different that the text’s main point. The text’s main point (above) refers to the central claim or thesis embedded in the text. Your purpose, however, refers to what you hope to accomplish in your essay (or assignment). Do you need to be objective or persuasive? Be sure to revisit the assignment sheet if you are not clear on what the assignment’s purpose is!
• What is your tone in the piece?  Authoritative? Sarcastic? Are you using simple language? Informal language? Does the language feel positive or negative? Most importantly, is the tone that you are using appropriate for the audience for your text?

Later Draft Revisions: Making Final Changes and Getting Ready to Submit the Assignment

• Carefully consider all feedback – Based on that feedback from readers—peer reviewers, tutors, your instructor, friends, etc., where can you make your essay more reader-friendly? Where does it need more effort and focus?
• Revisit the assignment sheet – If there are evaluation criteria, use them to evaluate your own draft. Identify in the paper where you are adhering to those criteria and where you feel like you still need work.
• Consider your sources – Are you engaging with required source materials as much or as deeply as you need to be? Would your paper be stronger if you reread the sources another time to better understand them? Do you need more source support in the paper? Do you need to enhance your source integration (signal phrases, citations)?
• Revisit feedback on previous papers – Often, we make consistent errors in our writing from paper to paper. Read over feedback from other papers—even from other classes—and review your paper with special attention to those errors. There is still time to come talk to your professor about fixing them if you don’t understand how to avoid them!
• Visit the Learning Center – It never hurts to have an objective pair of eyes look over your work. Bring the assignment sheet with you so that the Learning Center tutors can see what the instructor’s requirements for the assignment are. Communicate to the tutor about your key areas of concern or areas of focus.
• Read your paper aloud – slowly – This can help you to hear any missing words or components. We often miss things when we only read because we read so quickly.
• Ask for instructor feedback – If you have questions about any specific area of your paper or your argument in general, talk to your professor and ask for some guidance. It is best to visit office hours or schedule an appointment with your professor several days before the due date of the essay.