What is revision?
The transitive verb
"revise" means "to look over again in order to correct or
improve" (Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary).
Why should you revise?
to clarify your thoughts.
(to find
inconsistencies, information gaps, and poorly developed ideas.)
to communicate effectively with the reader.
(to reduce the reader's effort.)
(to increase the chances that he or she will read
your paper.)
to modify your writing style.
(to meet your reader's expectations.)
(to satisfy your own stylistic and ethical
standards.)
First drafts of papers almost always require revision
because:
sentences are unclear or wordy;
adjacent sentences do not logically connect to each other
(cohesion is poor);
paragraph topics are poorly defined (coherence is poor);
there are grammatical errors;
needed information is missing and unneeded information is
not;
sentences and paragraphs lack rhythm, flow, and emphasis.
We often start revising by
rearranging words in sentences (because sentences are easier to fix than
paragraphs) but we cannot expect to focus only on sentences and then only on
paragraphs and then only on logic. Changes in a sentence will often require
other changes in the paragraph structure and vice versa, and so we must move
from one level and site of repair to another. Consequently, writing well
(revising, thinking) is hard work.
At the level of the sentence,
we want the subject and verb to be close together and we usually want the verb
to be in active voice. We want to eliminate needless words, needless
abstraction, needless prepositional phrases. See revising
sentences.
For paragraphs, we want
adjacent sentences to connect to each other, i.e., we want a logical flow of
ideas. And we want all sentences in one paragraph to relate to one clearly
defined topic. See revising paragraphs.
Grammatical errors should be
fixed because we want knowledgeable readers to recognize our writing for its
logic and grace rather than for its errors. Moreover, incorrect grammar often
contributes to illogical and or imprecise writing. When we fix the grammar, we
fix the logic (or clarify that the writing is illogical) and highlight the
imprecision. See other common problems.
As we streamline sentences
and increase cohesion and coherence, we often find that some important elements
are missing and that other elements should be deleted. Determining what is
missing and what should go is difficult in the first draft because the
important idea and supporting logic are often buried or absent. Only by
revising can we bring the idea and logic into the open.
Finally, we recognize that
even though our paper will not be read out loud, it will be easier to
understand if the sentences and paragraphs have rhythm and emphasis.