Revision Checklist for Meaning and Form

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Revision Checklist for Content (Meaning)

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As you revise your first draft, it will be important for you to keep the reader in mind. After all, the burden of clarity is upon the writer, not on the reader. The following guide questions will help you make the necessary revisions so that the reader can follow your movement of thoughts with relative ease. Remember this mantra for the purpose of clarity: SAY WHAT YOU MEAN!

1.     Have I said what I meant to say? In other words, are there gaps between my intended meaning and what I have written?

2.     Is my introduction inviting? Have I started with a good hook to grab the reader’s attention?

3.     Is my thesis statement circumscribed or narrow enough to be developed further in the essay?

4.     Do my paragraphs begin with a topic sentence containing a clear controlling idea?

5.     Is the controlling idea in each of the paragraphs developed by sufficient supporting details?

6.     Do all of the controlling ideas expound on the thesis statement?

7.     Have I used transition words to make my sentences flow smoothly?

8.     Does my conclusion summarize the main points of the essay?

9.     Does it restate the thesis statement?

10.  Does it leave a lasting impression on the reader?

Exercise:
Revisit the first draft of the essay you wrote, and use the above revision questions to make the necessary changes. Be as objective as possible as you do the revisions. Pretend that you are reviewing someone else’s paper and read it with a critical eye. There is a good chance that you will find some shortcomings in your first draft. As a last resort, you can ask a classmate to review your first draft and offer suggestions on how to improve it.

Editing Checklist for Form (Grammar)
After you revise the first draft and make your ideas more clear, it is time to do some editing and find grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation errors. Remember that when used inappropriately, a word can change the meaning of an entire sentence or a paragraph. Refer to the following questions to edit your first draft.

1.     Have I written a variety of sentences such as simple, complex, and compound?

2.     Do my pronouns agree with their nouns?

3.     Do my verbs agree with their subjects? In other words, have I made many subject-verb agreement errors?

4.     Have I spelled the words correctly?

5.     Have I used a word wrongly?

6.     Are my verb tenses appropriate?

7.     Are there instances of fragments and run-on sentences?

8.     Are there instances of comma splices?

9.     Have I used commas and semi-colons appropriately?

10.  Have I eliminated all instances of contractions such as “won’t” and “don’t”?

Exercise:
Edit the first draft you just revised. This time focus on the mechanical aspects of writing such as grammar and punctuation errors. Refer to the above questions as you edit your own draft. As an expert editor, pay attention to the finer points of grammar and correct spelling and punctuation errors. After making the editorial changes, ask one of your classmates to review your second draft or submit it to your instructor for feedback.



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