teaching with writing

Editing Worksheet

Toby Fulwiler, Professor, University of Vermont

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Editing is the process of fine-tuning one's writing. In transactional writing, belief and clarity are essential. A carefully revised paper will have all the necessary components for creating belief -- a carefully edited paper will make that clear. In editing, a writer turns his/her attention to sentence-level matters of word-choice, tone, economy and precision. Think about the following questions as you edit this paper:

Do you use active verbs wherever you can? (Do you "decide" rather than "make a decision"?)

Have you cut all the dead wood from your sentences? ("It is interesting to note that editing is easy.")

Do you have good reasons for using passive constructions? If not, make active. ("The liquid was poured into the test tube by the chemist.'')

Can you use a smaller word where you have used a big one? ("Can you utilize this worksheet?")

Have you used the most precise word or term that you can? (Will your audience understand it?)

Do you find any cliches in your sentences? ("Can you cut through the red tape and get on the ball?")

Can you combine any sentences to avoid repetition? ("The water is brown. It is flowing fast. It is polluted.")

Do you have any one-sentence paragraphs? Should you?

Are your references, documentation, and calculations complete and precise?

Have you proofread the paper for punctuation, spelling, proper grammar?
(Note: Before concentrating on sentence-level editing, see the REVISION WORKSHEET.)

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