Revision Strategies
                                                        Jeff Ludwig

In revision, it is important to see the big picture. Don't make revisions just to see where you end up. Begin by looking at your draft. What does it accomplish? What do you want it to accomplish? Decide on what you want your ultimate purpose, focus, and audience is to be, and then decide how to use the suggestions that you have received to help you achieve these goals in your draft.  Once you have a clear conception of where you are going, then you can decide what changes to incorporate into your paper.

Below are some questions that you can use to help you guide your revision efforts.

Audience and Purpose:

Do you have a clear audience in mind for your paper? If not, spend some time thinking about what group of people you would like to have read your paper, or who would be interested or influenced in reading your paper, and why. Consider age group, gender, interests, hobbies, educational level, experience, career, level of knowledge about your topic, etc.

What do you want to communicate to this audience? Why? Can you convey this thought in a single sentence? If not, you may need to narrow your focus or consider writing a larger project that could encompass the scope of your ideas.

Keep your audience and purpose in mind as you read each and every sentence. Are they most appropriate in relation to your audience and purpose? Does your audience already know the information that you are conveying? Do they need more background in order to understand the significance of your point? Is the language appropriate for your audience?

Does each paragraph contribute to your focus and purpose? If not, how can you make it do so? Sometimes the only thing to do is delete, as painful as that may be.

Tone and Mood:

What tone and mood have you adopted? Would you describe it as angry? Upset? Bored? Disinterested? Excited? Incensed? Serious? Sarcastic? How do you communicate the tone? Does this tone fit with your audience and purpose? If not, you need to revise your tone by reworking the words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs that communicate it.

Is the paper informal or formal? Why? What words or phrases make it so? Does the level of formality work with your audience and purpose? If not, you need to reconsider and rework the areas of your paper which create the formal or informal mood.

Organization and Presentation:

What did you put at the beginning/introduction of the paper? Why? Does it make the most sense there? Is that the most effective place for that information? Is there other information that could work more effectively there? Is there one or two sentences somewhere in the beginning of the paper that sum up what you have to say about the issue you've chosen?

What is in the middle of the paper? Why? Is it easy or logical for the reader to follow? What would happen if you moved some of the information around? Would the paper be more or less effective? Why?

What did you end/conclude your paper with? Is it what you want to leave your reader thinking about? Does it effectively tie together or wrap up your thoughts? Is it the most effective way to end the essay?

Details and Support:

Keeping your purpose and audience in mind, have you provided enough details and examples to make your point? Is there enough support to accomplish your purpose?

Do you have enough details to keep the reader interested? Do you have too few details to keep reader interest?

Do you offer enough examples to make your points clear? Is everything understandable and clear?

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