Revision, Editing, and Proofreading

In this handout, you’ll learn about the differences between revision, editing, and proofreading. All three are an important part of looking back on your writing and trying to improve it. Remember that any revision you do will require editing, and any editing you do will require proofreading!

Revision Editing ProofreadingOverall Goal Improve the major

problems of an essay like organization or the argument

Improve the minor problems of an essay like word choice or cutting repetition

Recognize typos and other mistakes

What You Might Do

Re-think the writing situation: Who is my audience? What is my purpose?Write a new introduction or conclusion, change out examples or evidence, re-order your paragraphsAdd, delete, or move large sections of text

Look for places to clarify your thinking or make your paper flow betterUse different wording, add transitions, use different punctuation, combine or break apart sentences, cut unnecessary words or parts of sentences

Look for places where you typed something incorrectly or where you did not follow a rule of grammar (either because you didn’t know it or forgot it)Fix incomplete sentences, spelling or punctuation errors, and correctly format the citations of your essay

V 1.1, adapted from University of Arizona Writing Center HandoutsF. Kurtyka, Jan. 2011