When teaching editing, I typically have my students work
in two completely separate steps: content editing and
mechanical editing.
The first
step is to edit for content. This means editing for purpose, logical organization,
flow, and overall readability. If a paper or an essay lacks overall focus or purpose,
is illogically organized, lacks examples and elaboration on points, or is generally hard
to follow, there is no point in editing for the mechanical mistakes because likely the
bulk of the paper needs to be rewritten. In my opinion, content editing is easiest to
do at the outline level.
The second step is mechanical
editing. Once the content of the paper is correct, this step in editing looks at the
nit-picky mechanics. This means checking for things like correct spelling, complete
sentences, correct punctuation, and correct use of pronouns and
verbs.
A third step can be added to
the editing process but is only necessary when you are ready to take your writing to a
higher level. At this point, minor changes to wording might help "clean up" a paper by
simplifying the language or getting to a point more directly. I often tell my students,
after editing for content and basic mechanics, to "polish" their final paper by
re-reading one final time and attempting to remove 10-20 more words. Often, what has
been said in 10 words can be better said in 5.
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