The Editing Stage

Read Aloud

Reading aloud what you have written can help you better understand your ideas. You may find that when you read aloud, certain sentences or paragraphs do not make sense or “flow.” Edit these areas by elaborating and clarifying as necessary. Computer speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs such as TextHelp: Read and Write Gold Edition can be beneficial in this area.

Seek Feedback

After spending a little time on the essay, it isn’t surprising when the facts and ideas no longer make sense, are one big jumble and seem overly confusing. Ensure that when this happens, you give yourself a break and ask for feedback on your writing. Often, discussing your opinions with someone can help you gain better insight into how your ideas are understood by others. You can get feedback from a friend, family member, teaching assistant, or by booking an appointment with a writing instructor through your campus’s writing centre.

• UTSC Writing Support
• UTM Writing Support
• UTSG Writing Support

Reference Effectively

Ensure that you use the appropriate format for referencing your materials in the bibliography. Some of the most commonly used bibliography referencing systems include the APA and MLA formats. Usually, professors will let you know at the onset of the course what reference style they are expecting from you. If not, ask the professor or check out information from the library.

Use a Checklist

Professors will normally tell you in the assignment outline what criteria they will be using to evaluate your paper. Create a checklist using these criteria and ensure that you have covered each of them in your paper. For example, papers will commonly be judged for creativity, understanding and critical thinking about the topic. Spelling, vocabulary and grammar will also be considered, which may seem unsettling, but thanks to computer spell-checkers, word checkers and tools such as a thesaurus, these issues need not be dreaded.

You can use the GRADES checklist below with or without assistive technology to guide your editing. For a video example, watch this video.

GRADE Checklist  

Grammar and spell check

• Check spelling and grammar mistakes using your word processor and/or assistive technology (i.e. Read and Write).

Read back and correct

• Read aloud or listen using assistive technology (i.e. Read and Write, Kurzweil) to correct:
  1. Subject/verb agreement
  2. Verb tenses
  3. Suffixes and prefixes
  4. Missing words
  5. Sentence structure (fragments and run-on sentences)
  6. Meaning

Additional checking for homonyms

• Check and correct the spelling of words that sound the same (with Read & Write, these words will be coloured blue).

Draft Copy Highlighting

• Print a hard copy.
• Highlight words that you are not sure are correct.

Edit again

• Use a dictionary or thesaurus.
• Use a proof-reader or software (i.e. MS Word, Grammarly, Read & Write).

                                             Marlene McIntosh, MBA, MEd, and Diane Berzins, MEd