Self-editing can be challenging, especially if you have primarily relied on peer review or mentor feedback to improve your writing in the past. However, developing self-editing skills is an essential step toward becoming a more independent and confident writer. By breaking your writing down into its mechanical elements—such as grammar, structure, and clarity—you can gain a deeper understanding of how to make meaningful revisions. This process not only enhances your current work but also strengthens your overall writing abilities.
Higher and Lower Order Concerns
When self-editing, you may focus on various tasks to refine your paper. Sometimes, this means addressing grammar, spelling, or punctuation issues; other times, it involves more substantial changes, such as reorganizing paragraphs, restructuring sections, or adding new arguments. These tasks are categorized into two types of revisions: higher-order concerns (global revisions) and lower-order concerns (local revisions). Understanding the difference between these can help you prioritize and tackle revisions more effectively.
Higher Order Concerns/Global Revisions:
Higher-order revisions focus on substantial changes that typically require more time and effort to address. These revisions often occur after receiving feedback from your dissertation chair, the Center for Scholarly Communication, or the writing center. At this stage, the portion of your writing you are revising is largely complete. Rather than adding significant new information or paragraphs, you are refining your work by recentering your argument, clarifying ideas, and making structural adjustments that influence the overall shape and coherence of your paper.
Typical Higher Order Concerns involve:
- Emphasizing and refining the focus of your writing.
- Ensuring appropriate language and tone for your intended audience.
- Clarifying the purpose or main argument of the piece.
- Maintaining a logical and coherent organization throughout the work.
- Adding relevant details, examples, or specifics to strengthen your points.
- Clarifying, supporting, explaining, or elaborating on vague concepts to improve understanding.
Lower Order Concerns/Local Revisions:
Lower-order revisions refers to editing that focuses on refining specific details at the sentence or word level, rather than addressing broader content or structural concerns. Local revision ensures polished and professional writing, essential for scholarly or professional contexts. Clear, error-free writing enhances readability and keeps readers engaged while attention to detail builds trust with the audience, as errors can undermine credibility.
- Simplify complex sentences and ensure ideas flow smoothly.
- Maintain consistency in tense, tone, and formatting throughout the document
- Ensure proper use of punctuation marks, capitalization, and formatting.
- Eliminate awkward phrasing or unnecessary jargon.
Polishing Your Writing
In addition to addressing higher-order (content, organization, and argument) and lower-order (grammar, punctuation, and style) concerns, self-editing should also focus on the following aspects to produce polished and effective writing:
1. Audience and Purpose
- Ensure that the tone, style, and content align with your intended audience and purpose.
- Ask yourself: Is the writing appropriate for my readers? Does it fulfill its intended purpose, such as to inform, persuade, or entertain?
2. Flow and Transitions
- Check that ideas flow logically from each paragraph, use transitions to guide the reader.
- Evaluate the coherence of your writing: Do my sentences and paragraphs connect smoothly? Are transitions clear and varied?
3. Conciseness and Redundancy
- Identify and remove unnecessary words, phrases, or sentences that don’t add value.
- Ask yourself: Am I repeating ideas unnecessarily? Can I say this more succinctly?
4. Clarity and Precision
- Ensure that your ideas are expressed clearly and that there is no ambiguity.
- Consider: Are my sentences easy to understand? Have I used precise, accurate language?
5. Consistency
- Verify consistency in terminology, formatting, tense, and point of view.
- Ask: Have I maintained a consistent voice and style throughout?
6. Formatting and Structure
- Ensure that the document adheres to any required formatting guidelines (APA/MLA, etc.).
- Check: Are headings, font sizes, margins, and citations formatted correctly?
7. Visual Presentation
- Evaluate the use of visual aids (if applicable), such as charts, tables, or images, to support the text.
- Consider: Are visuals clear, labeled, and properly referenced?
8. Citations and Referencing
- Verify that all sources are properly cited, and the reference list is complete and accurate.
- Check: Have I followed the correct citation style? Have I avoided plagiarism by quoting when necessary and following the exact wording of the original text?
9. Voice and Style
- Ensure that your writing reflects an appropriate and consistent voice.
- Ask: Does my voice sound confident and professional? Am I using varied sentence structures to keep the writing engaging?
10. Impact and Engagement
- Reflect on whether your writing has a strong introduction and conclusion and maintains the reader’s interest throughout.
- Ask: Does my introduction hook the reader? Does my conclusion effectively wrap up the main points?