Finding Your Process: Revision
Once all (or most) of your general ideas and supporting details are present, somewhere, in your draft document, it's time to re-arrange and re-write. If you're working on a computer, you may find it easier to print the draft and write your changes down, or have someone look it over for you from there. Otherwise, just start re-jiggering.
Go paragraph by paragraph, asking if each sentence hangs together in support of a single idea. At each sentence, ask "is this information really necessary?" Delete anything that makes you answer "no," or consolidate it into another sentence.
Pay attention if you are repeating particular words or phrases to excess. Retain the versions that work best and replace others with synonyms.
Ask if your word choice is appropriate for your audience. Are you using industry jargon to clients who may not understand it? Conversely, are you over-explaining to those already "in the know?"
Get into the habit of doing many successive read-throughs, each one looking for a specific type of error or pitfall, for example:
Go paragraph by paragraph, asking if each sentence hangs together in support of a single idea. At each sentence, ask "is this information really necessary?" Delete anything that makes you answer "no," or consolidate it into another sentence.
Pay attention if you are repeating particular words or phrases to excess. Retain the versions that work best and replace others with synonyms.
Ask if your word choice is appropriate for your audience. Are you using industry jargon to clients who may not understand it? Conversely, are you over-explaining to those already "in the know?"
Get into the habit of doing many successive read-throughs, each one looking for a specific type of error or pitfall, for example:
- Flow, organization, readability, plus any obvious mistakes
- Word choice (including common troubles spots (over v. more than, comprise v. compose, which v. that, etc.)
- Homophone problems (to/too, there/their/they're, etc.)
- General grammar and punctuation
- Voice (passive v. active) and consistency (verb-subject agreements, parallel lists, naming/abbreviation conventions, etc.)
- Your specific and identified "tics" (overuse of "very," split infinitives, two spaces after a period...whatever)
- Flow, organization, readability (again!)