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Using success criteria in writing.

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This article explores research and strategies for self assessment in writing.

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Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars

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Good writing can be said to be essentially about self-assessment. An author's work is the end result of many rounds of revisions based on self-assessment of earlier drafts.

A review of the literature on self-assessment in writing recently published in the Journal of Research in Reading yields 12 strategies for the use of self-assessment with learners from middle school through adulthood. The study is a synthesis rather than a meta-analysis of previous research on this topic.

Researcher Kristen Nielsen says the process of writing and revising is complex and has been described as a conversation with the writer's self, she writes.

"In this sense, writing requires continual meta-cognition, as writers must learn to assess and evaluate their own idea and expression objectively, as well as their writing process, in order to make continual improvements to writing tasks and further develop as a writer."

Among the advantages of self-assessment is that it is formative rather than summative and it supports the transfer of knowledge which is key to improving writing. Self-assessment encourages "the sort of autonomous mastery of writing strategies needed to overcome the limitations of working memory...," according to the researcher.

Writers must develop their own voice and their own writing process, an evolution that is nurtured by the reflective exercise of self-assessment. Finally, self assessment promotes dialogue between teachers and students and helps students better understand the feedback they receive from their teacher.

Most of the studies included in the author's review were descriptive rather than empirical studies, as is typical of much of the research on writing, Nielsen writes.

Below are 12 strategies for self-assessment that are supported in her review of the literature:

1. Give students direct, explicit and step-by-step training before they carry out self-assessment exercises and include practice time.

2. Help students develop a clear understanding of the aspects of writing they are self-assessing such as tone, attention to purpose, etc. In order for students to evaluate their writing for each of the different aspects, they need to have a clear understanding of the concepts.

3. Use writing models to demonstrate specific writing skills and to give students the opportunity to practice assessment. Writing models can be used independently of self-assessment to reinforce learning of concepts. When they are used as practice for self-assessment, teachers can correct student miscomprehension and modify the exercise as needed.

4. Invite students to participate in developing the criteria for self-assessment exercises. This process helps develop a shared understanding of good writing in the classroom.

5. Increase student motivation in self-assessment by making the self-assessment part of the grade. Positive verbal prompts and guidance also support student motivation. Motivating students is a challenge, but for self-assessment to be meaningful students must be committed to the task.

6. Use self-assessment for formative rather than summative evaluation and not to determine a final grade on an assignment.

7. Provide sufficient independent time and space in class to complete self-assessment exercises. Self-assessment works best in your classroom where you can reinforce a sense of quiet, focused time that students may not have outside the classroom. You can also provide support and corrective feedback.

8. Engage students in dialogue during self-assessment to provide feedback, answer questions and provide clarification. Some students will need more scaffolding and guidance than others. One of the great benefits of self-assessment is the opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

9. Self-assessment should include tasks that address specific components of writing as well as prompts that ask for a global response to their writing. Students should work to improve specific aspects of their writing as well as the overall content.

10. Nurture students' sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem through positive feedback, reinforcement and modelling. Student writers tend to think writers are born not made. They need a sense of self-efficacy to persevere in writing.

11. Give students the opportunity to revise their work after self-assessment so that they can transfer what they've learned to the task of writing.

12. Regularly evaluate your teaching methods. How are students responding? Conduct student surveys to find out what's working well.

"Self-assessment methods in writing instruction: a conceptual framework, successful practices and essential strategies," by Kristen Nielsen, Journal of Research in Reading, Volume 37, Issue 1, pp. 1-117.

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12 strategies for self-assessment in writing

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Good writing can be said to be essentially about self-assessment. An author's work is the end result of many rounds of revisions based on self-assessment of earlier drafts. A review of the literature on self-assessment in writing recently published in the Journal of Research in Reading yields 12 strategies for the use of self-assessment with learners from middle school through adulthood.

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When revising and editing your assignment, ask yourself:

Have I answered the question or task as fully as possible?

What is my thesis/ central proposition/ main assertion?

Do I make a clear argument or take a position about the topic? Do I state that position in my introduction?

Does my introduction or opening paragraph prepare the reader for what follows?

Is my essay clearly structured?

Are my paragraphs clearly connected and coherent?

Does each paragraph begin with a topic sentence?

Do the sentences flow smoothly and logically from point to point?

Does each sentence clearly follow on from the one before?

Does each paragraph state its case clearly and completely, or should there be more evidence/ detail?

Are there adequate transitions between sentences and paragraphs? Are transitions varied or are they all the same kind?

Are all examples and quotes relevant to and supportive of my answer?

Are facts and opinions supported with examples or explanations where necessary?

Is my written expression appropriate?

Have I used direct and clear language?

Have I explained my ideas clearly and explicitly?

Have I kept my audience in mind? Have I said all I need to say so that my reader can understand, or am I assuming they will 'know what I mean'?

Have I written complete, grammatically correct sentences?

In long sentences, have I separated related ideas with commas or semicolons for easier understanding?

Is my use of tenses correct?

Have I used non-discriminatory language?

Have I fully referenced my sources of information?

Have I referenced all the words, ideas and information sources I have used in my assignment?

Have I used a consistent referencing style?

Is there a clear distinction between my thoughts and words and those of the author(s) I've read and cited?

Are quotations properly introduced?

Are they accurate?

Are they formatted correctly?

Do the quotations add evidence or provide an authoritative voice, or am I letting the author(s) speak for me? Would writing it in my own words be more effective?

Have I remained within or exceeded the set word limit?
I don't have enough words:

Have I fully answered the question or task?

Do I need to read more? Should I include more information or discussion?

Have I provided enough evidence to support my argument/s?

I have too many words:

Have I included only relevant information?

Is there any unnecessary repetition in my assignment?

Is my written expression as clear and concise as possible, or is it too 'wordy'?

Have I proof read and revised my assignment for errors?

Have I checked my spelling? Have I read through my assignment and not just relied on a computer spell checker?

Is all my bibliographical information correct?

Have I used correct punctuation? Have I ended every sentence with a full stop?

Is my assignment well presented?

Does the presentation follow any guidelines set by my lecturer or school?

Have I included a cover sheet? (assignment cover sheets are available from your school office)

Have I made sure my assignment is legible? Is it typed or written neatly?

Have I used double-line spacing?

Have I numbered pages and used wide margins?

Have I kept an extra copy?

Further reading

Barnett, S. and Cain, A. 1997, A Short Guide to Writing About Literature, Harper Collins.

Cuba, l. 1988, A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science, Harper Collins.

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When revising and editing your assignment, ask yourself: What is my thesis/ central proposition/ main assertion? Do I make a clear argument or take a position about the topic? Do I state that position in my introduction? Does my introduction or opening paragraph prepare the reader for what follows?

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This resource outlines how to respond to a question and 'what to look for' in a response.

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In order to decide how to answer an essay question, you need to identify what the question requires in terms of content and genre. This guide outlines some methods to help you analyse essay questions.

Analyse the question using key words

Assignment questions can be broken down into parts so that you can better understand what you are being asked to do. It is important to identify key words and phrases in the topic.

What are key words?

Key words are the words in an assignment question that tell you the approaches to take when you answer.

Make sure you understand the meaning of key words in an essay question, especially t ask words. As Task words are verbs that direct you and tell you how to go about answering a question, understanding the meaning helps you know exactly what you to do.

Content words tell you what the topic area(s) of your assignment are and take you halfway towards narrowing down your material and selecting your answer. Content words help you to focus your research and reading on the correct area.

Limiting words make a broad topic workable. They focus the topic area further by indicating aspects you should narrowly concentrate on.

If you're not sure about any aspect of the question, ask your tutor/lecturer for clarification. Never start any assignment until you know and understand exactly what you are being asked to do.

How to use key words

Look for the keywords in your essay question.

Underline them.

Spend a little time working out what they mean. Use the Glossary of task words to help you.

Example Question

Computers have had a significant impact on education in the 20th century. Discuss the changes they have made.

Task Words

DISCUSS. Look up the meaning in the glossary of task words to find out what it means.

(See Glossary of task words)

EDUCATION, COMPUTERS. Content words help to direct your research and reading towards the correct area(s), in this case on computers and on education.

CHANGES, SIGNIFICANT IMPACT, 20TH CENTURY. Limiting words further define the topic area and indicate aspects you should narrowly concentrate on. For example, in this question, do not just write about computers in education, Discuss the significant impact they have had, and the changes computers have made to education during a certain time: the 20TH CENTURY.

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In order to decide how to answer an essay question, you need to identify what the question requires in terms of content and genre. This guide outlines some methods to help you analyse essay questions. Assignment questions can be broken down into parts so that you can better understand what you are being asked to do.

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the sacred in cross-cultural perspective

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Hobart and William Smith Colleges are a student-centered learning environment, globally focused, grounded in the values of equity and service, developing citizens who will lead in the 21st century.

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Peer editing is a useful tool, but sometimes it doesn't seem to work as well as it should. Students get together to edit each other's rough drafts, and in two minutes, they tell you they are finished. We need to provide instruction on peer editing and supervised practice.

Instruction

The editing part of the writing process can often be tedious for students, especially those who have trouble spelling or remembering grammar and capitalization rules. It is difficult for teachers to edit every rough draft in a timely manner before it is published, so we often use peer editing as an alternative. How can we teach students to be better at peer editing rough drafts?

Here is a lesson plan on peer editing:

With an overhead projector or Smart board, display a piece of writing with mistakes. Make some mistakes obvious for your grade level and make some more difficult to find.

If you use a peer editing checklist with your students during the writing process, then pass out a copy to each student.

As a whole class, they will peer edit the displayed writing. You are providing guidance. As students find a mistake, they will come up to the front of the room and fix the mistake, using editing symbols. They will also explain why they think it is a mistake and how they fixed it.

The next day, display a different rough draft that is ready for the editing stage in the writing process. Pass out the peer editing checklists. Pair students, ask them to find mistakes together, and discuss how to fix the mistakes. Call on volunteers to come up and fix mistakes as you did in the previous day's lesson plan.

On the third day, pass out a sample rough draft with mistakes to each pair of students. Ask students to peer edit the rough draft together and use editing marks to fix mistakes.

Supervised Peer Editing

Peer editing is a difficult skill for students to learn. As adults, it is difficult for us to edit ourselves and our peers, so imagine how difficult it is for children. Keep this in mind when teaching your students peer editing skills.

After you have provided instruction in peer editing, you will want to supervise students in action. This is sometimes difficult to do during writers' workshop since most students are working at a different pace or on a different step in the writing process than others. When students are learning the skills, you can collect rough drafts, ready for peer editing, for a few days, so you have a group of students peer editing at the same time. Put these students into pairs.

Observe each pair closely as they edit each other's work. Remind students of the lesson plan where you instructed them on peer editing if you see any pairs having trouble following the checklist, finding mistakes, or correcting errors. You can gently guide students into being good peer editors if you watch a small group closely and provide instruction as they are in the process of helping each other with their rough drafts.

Writers' Workshop Tips

Writers' workhshop is a great method for teaching writing, but it can be difficult to implement in the classroom without support and a few tips. This series will give you tips on organization, different steps in the writing process, and help with implementation.

1. Getting Started in Writers' Workshop: Classroom Management Ideas

2. Writing Process Lesson Plans after the Final Draft

3. Peer Editing Lesson Plans That Work

4. Writing Lesson Plan: Teaching the Difference Between Editing and Revising

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A Lesson Plan on Peer Editing To Make it Work

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Peer editing is an excellent idea on paper. But often in our classrooms, peer editing does not look like the descriptions we've read or the images in our minds. Students are just reading each other's rough drafts and making nice comments. How do we get our students to peer edit each other's rough drafts correctly?

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This resources is quite lengthy, however provides first person accounts and examples of using writing workshops .

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William DeJean explains how he uses writing workshops as part of the process of writing. There are a number of resources which follow his podcast.

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Dr. William DeJean - Inspiration Unleashed

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Listen to William discuss how he uses The Writers' Workshops

Watch slideshow exploring The Writers' Workshops in action

Print out The Writers' Workshop Instructions

Listen to Dr. Louise Hard discuss her experience participating in the workshop

Listen to Student Natalie Maher discuss her experience participating in the workshop

Listen to Jenni Munday discuss her experience participating in the workshop

Print out Essay Check-Off List Sheet

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Learn how writers' workshops can transform student writing.

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The importance of "Word Choice" in effective communication.

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Learn how the words you use paints the picture the person you're communicating with sees.

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Instead of being their editor, teach students the craft of writing through ongoing feedback, freedom to experiment, self-editing skills, strengthening content and ideas, and encouraging reflection.

Photo credit: lettera27 via flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Editing student writing typically takes a few minutes and a red pen. Teaching writing requires hard work, and even though many teachers assign writing, few actually teach the art of writing. The writing process is time consuming and often messy, so it's no wonder that many teachers becomes editors by default. How can teachers be sure that they're teaching students how to write and not simply editing writing assignments?

1. Ongoing Feedback

Teachers should offer feedback throughout the entire writing process and not just on the final product. If writing is done correctly, the majority of the work happens long before the final copy is submitted. When a teacher only offers feedback on the final paper, the window to teach and shape writing has passed, since the student has moved onto the next assignment. Instead, check on student work at the beginning and in the middle of the process. Kaizena (a Google add-on that allows for voice comments on a document) or Google Docs are both great ways to have one-on-one conversations throughout the process. Issues concerning the overall focus, specific content, or organization can be caught early, giving students a chance to finish the paper with clarity.

2. Freedom to Experiment

Teachers should allow students to find their writing voice and develop a personal style through experimentation. Since personal style is unique to each individual, this element of writing may be the most difficult to teach. Mentor texts are a great resource for exposing students to different styles and voices. When reading, have students record sentences from a text which they find interesting, and have them review these before writing. Students can choose two or three sentences from their list to mimic in their own writing. Trying out new sentences is like trying on new clothes -- some items work, while others won't. I ask students to experiment with at least three sentences in an essay by trying a different syntax pattern, rhetorical device, or possibly use punctuation for effect. Students will either highlight or star the "risk" sentences to let me know they are working on their personal style or voice, and I will not take points off if these sentences don't work. Students should be allowed to experiment with personal style without the worry of hurting their grade.

3. Self-Editing Skills

Teachers should not be concerned about marking every grammatical mistake, but rather teach students to self-edit as they write. Correct conventions are an important component of written communication, but very rarely does an essay with every error marked cause a student to become a better writer. Students must learn to self-edit. They can catch many mistakes simply by taking the time to read their paper aloud. Not only does reading aloud add an auditory element to writing, but the process has the added benefit of slowing the reader down long enough to think about the content as well. Providing a simple checklist of common grade-level errors is another way to give students who are not confident in self-editing the support they need to begin taking ownership of the editing process. In addition, teachers can educate students on how to use digital tools such as Grammarly, SAS Writing Reviser, or word processing features to ensure a grammatically correct paper.

4. Strengthening Content and Ideas

The hook in your introduction was very enticing.

Your second body paragraph offered a persuasive argument.

Teachers should offer feedback on students' content and ideas, as these are the most important element of writing, and developing them should be the focus of feedback. Consider giving a Glow comment (something really great about the content) and Grow comment (a piece of constructive criticism) with each paper. A Glow comment might be something like:

Your conclusion included new information.

Your third body paragraph did not have any concrete evidence.

A Grow comment could include:

Students can review Glow and Grow comments immediately before the next writing assignment in order to repeat what they did well and grow in their areas of weakness.

5. Student Reflection

Teachers should offer students a chance to reflect on their writing. Students should learn to think about themselves as writers, and one of the best ways to do this is having them reflect on their writing. Ask them to turn in a reflective paragraph with their written work assessing what they liked about it and why, as well as parts of the work that they felt might be weak. Students may also want to reflect on what part of the writing process seemed the most difficult and why. Not only does this help them own their writing, it also offers the teacher a chance to see the work through the students' eyes, which can help tailor feedback to specific concerns and needs.

Writing is hard work; teaching writing may be even harder work. The reward of teaching writing and not just editing papers, however, is each student who writes competently and confidently. And that's something to write home about!

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Instead of being their editor, teach students the craft of writing through ongoing feedback, freedom to experiment, self-editing skills, strengthening content and ideas, and encouraging reflection. Photo credit: lettera27 via flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) Editing student writing typically takes a few minutes and a red pen.

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In Alphabet Juice, Roy Blount Jr.'s earthy, contrarian screed to the pleasures of language, he traces to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch the now immortal edict of revision: Murder your darlings.*

It's interesting that this advice, so often attributed to one great writer or another-Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Orwell, Auden, even Samuel Johnson-was in fact penned by a relative obscurity who'd be lost to posterity were it not for that one fierce, scolding admonition.

And yet, as Blount points out, the phrase "Murder your darlings" is itself, well, a darling. There are many less flashy ways Quiller-Couch could have issued his diktat: "Eliminate all words or phrases, no matter how pleasing, that draw undue attention to themselves (or the writer) at the expense of the narrative flow."

But who would remember that?

Writing is rewriting, another pithy bon mot (per Eudora Welty), and one that shies away from the homicidal imagery. After all, you're not out to flog your manuscript-or yourself-into a state of self-abnegation. You're hoping to create an impression in the reader's mind, one that forms clearly and flows naturally. You're hoping for immediate comprehension and yet also a force of impact, a depth of meaning, or an aptness of expression that causes what's been read to linger. You're hoping to make the reader happy.

Notice that each one of those goals involves someone else: the reader. One of my favorite aunts used to say: "You don't know yourself by yourself." The writer's corollary to this might be: The proof of your prose lies with the reader, not the writer.

Finding Good Help

Given that we revise to make our writing more pleasurable for the reader, why not include the reader in the housework?

The truth at the core of "murder your darlings" is that many a writer, smitten with a particularly lovely bit of writing, will ignore the fact that something's not quite right about it. It says, "Look at me," instead of, "Keep reading." Readers catch this far more frequently than writers do, because their approach to the text is from the outside, whereas the author's is from within.

However you can manage it, through writing groups, conferences, friends or colleagues, try to develop a trusting relationship with a reader whose instincts you respect, and who will be willing to be candid with you. That is, someone who wants and expects you to be brilliant, but who is also willing and able to hurt your feelings if necessary. You may not take every criticism to heart, but you need to learn to respect the reasonable expectations and judgments of the readers you're setting out to reach.

If an objective reader isn't available, you can and should try to train yourself to read your own work as a disinterested party, but it's not as easy as it sounds. We automatically imbue the text with intentions we've brought to it-we know what lies "behind the words"-rather than taking those words at face value, as we do with someone else's work on first impression.

Sometimes putting a work aside for a time can help with objectivity, if the luxury of delay affords itself. Better yet: Read your work out loud. We tend to hear clumsy locutions, florid overwriting, flabby dialogue-as well as weak prose, poor pacing and other such sins-far better than we see them when reading.

Deep Cleaning

Aristotle believed that the skills that demonstrate a facility with language, such as style and characterization, are the easiest for young writers to master, and that only upon maturity do writers demonstrate command of the subtler techniques that lie beneath the surface of the text, such as structure. Regardless, it's often the surface that's easiest to fix, and a great many writers begin there with their rewrites, tuning up their phrases, tightening their sentences.

This is a mistake. It can too easily lead to what the author and writing instructor James N. Frey likens to "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." A manuscript with deep flaws in its conception of character, execution of plot, or simple logic cannot be fixed with polished prose, and focusing on language if your manuscript possesses these deeper missteps is wasted effort.

To revise successfully, you have to know what you're writing about, what your story is, your point, your premise, your theme, whatever you call it. You have to know what it is quivering inside the story that moves you, for that's the thing you're trying to share with the reader.

You often need to write through to a preliminary end to see this deep meaning remotely, let alone clearly. You may need to meander for a while to discover it; you may need to rethink certain passages or scenes to gain the more intimate understanding necessary to feel it deeply. But if you try to revise before this clarifies itself in your mind-or your heart-you can end up polishing doorknobs to empty rooms.

We live in an age of irony, when it sometimes seems that one can't care too little. This is a death sentence for good writing. There's nothing wrong with emotion or passion, as long as it's tempered by insight. And what's revision except tempering your prose through insight?

Once you know what it is in your text that compels you, you can better see the shape it needs to be to bring that impact home. You can see the inescapable beginning-middle-end of it, see if it concludes with a decisive act or a devastating moment of self-revelation, see the crucial decision that must be made-or is forsaken.

In short, revise the deepest, least visible aspects of your story first: character, story, premise, structure. Only then will the other techniques of revision be meaningful or helpful.

Uncovering Clutter

I personally often revise as I go, and wish I didn't. It's a bad habit I wish I could break, and I do it because it gives me confidence that the writing is strong enough to merit continuing. Sadly, this reveals more about my self-doubt than it does about the worth of what I've written.

Little by little I've gotten better at allowing myself to write badly in order to at least get something on the page, something I can come back to. This leads us to a crucial point: You can't revise what you haven't written.

John Lescroart tells aspiring writers that he works on his books in two stages. In the first, he wears his "genius hat," and with that jaunty chapeau on his noggin he can do no wrong: Every scene is dramatic and taut, every line of dialogue sings, every joke is funny. Once he gets an entire first draft written, he takes off the genius hat and puts on his "critic's hat." Now he goes back and fixes all the missteps he so merrily ignored in writing the first draft.

When you're ready to put on that second hat, try these two techniques:

Eliminating Excess: In The Writing Life, Annie Dillard discusses what she calls "the old one-two." This is where a writer expresses something quite well, then follows up with a rephrasing, as though to convince himself (or the reader) he got it right.

Take, for example, this: He realized he'd sold her short, turned a blind eye to the shadow falling across her soul. He'd put his faith in her glamour and dismissed her vanity, smiled at her ambition but ignored her greed. Depending on context, this freight train of repetitious clauses could easily be reduced to: He'd sold her short. That touch of bitter irony says just enough, while leaving the reader intrigued.

Often writers do this kind of overwriting unthinkingly as they develop a rhythm while forging ahead. And there's nothing wrong in allowing for that kind of excess-when you're wearing the genius hat. But when you return to these lines wearing the critic's hat, remember: Say it once, say it well, and move on.

A corollary to this rule might be stated as: Trust subtext.

Or, in the immortal words of Billie Holiday: "Don't explain."

A great deal of unnecessary effort is too often expended on trying to hammer the reader over the head with something you've already conveyed quite well.

Jokes you explain are never funny. Stories you explain are never interesting. The key is to provide enough so the reader feels engaged, but not so much she can feel you trying to control how she responds to the text. Few writing mistakes are as cringe-inducing as when the writer belabors the obvious or otherwise explains things tendentiously, or at unnecessary length. ( "I love you," she gushed warmly.) Remember: The reader is your helper, not a problem child. It's never the case that she's "too dumb to get it," and without your elaboration she'd be lost. Rather, if you've written it well, explanation is superfluous.

Tidying Up: In scriptwriting software, one dangling word of dialogue can force a premature page break, costing the writer a significant bit of precious real estate on the page. This prompts many scriptwriters to go back and focus on the dangling words at the end of a sentence or a paragraph (known as orphans), in order to tighten that section so an entire line isn't lost to a mere word or two.

I never would have thought this discipline could be so useful in tidying up my prose as it's proved to be. Writing that I thought was lean and taut almost invariably saw further improvement if I had to find some way to make it even more so. The skills you learn in ridding your prose of orphans translate across the board, and the merciless pursuit of clear, tight prose will serve you well even after all the orphans are tidied and tucked in.

Filling in the Cracks

Not all revision reduces to cutting, obviously. The admonition "less is more" carries the implicit addendum: "unless it's not enough."

This requires an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Sometimes, where you're weak-be it in setting, pacing, backstory-the text will seem lackluster, wanting. Here especially trusted readers-or an unerring ear-come in handy. They can feel the empty spaces better than you.

But it's not true that you must master all or settle for nothing. Ballantine editor Mark Tavani urges his writers to "forget their weaknesses and attack their strengths." No writer is skilled at everything, nor should he try to be, and each will bring his particular virtues to the page.

All writing, especially fiction, requires a bit of legerdemain in the form of indirection, calling the reader's attention to this over here so they fail to notice the blatant defect over there. The solution to revising an underwritten piece is to first make sure you've exploited your strengths to the fullest. Once you feel secure in this, you may find that the empty places you thought were there no longer seem quite so lacking.

Underwriting is a form of writer's block, and easily deserves an article entirely of its own. The cure, as mentioned earlier, is often to give yourself permission to write badly, so you at least have something to work with. Revising writing that needs even vast improvement is infinitely easier than scaling that forbidding rock face commonly known as the blank page.

Don't Forget the Mirror

At every step of writing, it's important to remember that words are a means to reveal, not something to hide behind. One of the great mistakes of writing is to think of it as a way to impress people in order to escape or obscure our own personal shortcomings. Even great writers are not immune to shame or dread or being caught with spinach between their teeth, and being published is no antidote to being human.

Or, put differently, we can't substitute writing problems for personal problems. In fact, the one often arises from the other.

I often get lost in minutiae, for example, missing the forest for the trees, for the sake of crossing absolutely every T and dotting every I. This results from an obsession with "getting it right" so that I can't be faulted, a legacy of a fault-finding home life and a school regime dictated by ruler-wielding nuns.

But I digress.

Knowing this about myself has proved immeasurably helpful in my revisions. I see where I'm overwriting from a misbegotten devotion to being thorough, when in fact restraint is necessary to lure the reader in. It's an invaluable lesson that came only over time, with insight and attention to what I was doing in my life, as well as my writing on the page.

In my teaching I've encountered shy, reclusive introverts with a lovely prose style who avoid all conflict on the page-just as they shy away from it in life. I've had thinkers whose characters never get out of their own heads, and compulsive talkers whose dialogue is a jabbering onslaught of empty words.

We can't help but be who we are on the page, and that's a good thing, as is realizing that the skills necessary for improving our writing will serve us in our attempts to be better people. The point of all writing is to be clear and honest, and every story points toward an ending where the hero has the chance to be braver, wiser, more loving. With hope, we can do the same. If so, we'll most likely be able to mark our progress on the page.

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Revision: How to Edit and Polish Your Writing

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In Alphabet Juice, Roy Blount Jr.'s earthy, contrarian screed to the pleasures of language, he traces to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch the now immortal edict of revision: Murder your darlings.* It's interesting that this advice, so often attributed to one great writer or another-Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Orwell, Auden, even Samuel Johnson-was in fact penned by a relative obscurity who'd be lost to posterity were it not for that one fierce, scolding admonition.

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Grammarly is a Chrome extension which could be used to assist students to edit their work. This should not take place of explicit instruction, however, could be used to model and discuss correct grammar and punctuation of written work.

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Millions trust Grammarly's free writing app to make their messages, documents, and posts clear, mistake-free, and effective.

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This resource lists focus areas for editing writing. The article begins to unpack how to edit these areas.

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Writers rarely spit out their best copy on the first draft. If you meet a writer who claims to have the secret for doing so, please let the rest of us know!

First drafts - and second drafts and sometimes thirds - exist to hash your ideas out on paper. After you've revised your book, story, blog post or article until you can revise no more, you just hand it off to your editor to clean up, right?

Well, that'd be ideal. But most of us don't have the luxury of hiring an expensive editor to review our personal blog post It might even be hard to spend the money for a book editor. And since procrastination is the writer's best friend, you might not even have time to even ask a fellow writer pal take a quick peek for errors.

And so, in some cases, it falls to you to be your own editor.

How to edit: Follow these copyediting tips

Even if you don't want to become an editor, you've got to learn how to edit. Is it really possible edit your own work when all the words you just finished writing are so precious? Yes! It can be done - and for the sake of making your writing stand out, it must be done.

So pull up your most recently saved draft, and get to work. To make it easy for you, we've added to the bottom of this list a downloadable and printable PDF that summarizes these copyediting tips into a checklist.

Here's how to edit your own work.

1. Cut long sentences in two

I'm not talking about run-on sentences. Many long sentences are grammatically correct. But long sentences often contain several ideas, so they can easily lose the reader's focus because they don't provide a break, leading readers to get stuck or lose interest, and perhaps the reader might get bored and go watch TV instead.

See what I mean? If you spot a comma-heavy sentence, try to give each idea its own sentence.

2. Axe the adverbs (a.k.a. -ly words)

Adverbs weaken your copy because these excess words are not truly descriptive. Rather than saying the girl runs quickly, say she sprints. Instead of describing the cat as walking slowly, say he creeps or tiptoes. The screen door didn't shut noisily, it banged shut.

Find a more powerful verb to replace the weak verb + weak -ly adverb combo.

3. Stick to one voice

Sometimes it's necessary to use both first and second person, but that can be jarring for readers. For example, you might start your introduction talking about yourself, then switch halfway through the piece and start addressing the reader. Try to stick to "I" voice or "you" voice throughout one piece of writing.

And if you must switch, start with one and finish with the other. Don't move back and forth between the two. Your readers will get lost.

4. Remove extra punctuation

A powerful hyphen here and a thought-provoking semicolon there can be effective. But a piece of writing littered with all sorts of punctuation - parentheses, colons, ellipses, etc. - doesn't flow well.

Oftentimes, you can eliminate these extra pieces of punctuation with commas or by ending a sentence and starting a new one. And that makes your writing that much stronger.

5. Replace negative with positive

Instead of saying what something isn't, say what it is. "You don't want to make these mistakes in your writing" could be better stated as, "You want to avoid these mistakes in your writing." It's more straightforward.

If you find negative statements in your writing that contain don't, shouldn't, can't or another such word, find a way to rewrite them without the "not." That will probably mean you need to find a more powerful verb.

6. Replace stuffy words with simple ones

Some people think jargon makes their writing sound smart, but you know better. Good writing does not confuse readers. If they need to grab a dictionary to finish a sentence, your writing has room for improvement.

To get your point across, use words people are familiar with. The English language has thousands of words. You can certainly find a shorter or more common word in your thesaurus than a jargony one.

7. Remove redundancies

You don't need to say the exact same thing with two words. Did you catch the redundant words in that sentence? Here's a better version: you don't need to say the same thing with two words.

Brand new, advance planning, basic necessities... the list of these common phrases is longer than this blog post. Check out Thoughtco.com's 200 Common Redundancies and then start snipping!

Sometimes sneaky redundancies are separated by an "and." If you say your sentences are straightforward and to-the-point, they are neither. You don't need both words. Your sentences are straightforward. Or, your sentences are to-the-point.

8. Reduce prepositions

Though prepositions (of, in, to, for, etc.) are helpful little words, they make sentences more lengthy because they cannot stand alone. Prepositions need lots of friends. By cutting the preposition and the words that follow, you can cut three, four or even five words. Sometimes a prepositional phrase can be replaced with just one more direct word, or cut completely.

An easy way to cut prepositions is to look for opportunities to make something possessive. The car of your neighbor is really just your neighbor's car.

9. Cut "in order to"

You never need it. If you're going to the kitchen in order to make a sandwich... Your sentence could be tighter. Because you're really going to the kitchen to make a sandwich.

That "in order to" makes it take a millisecond longer to arrive at the meaty part of the sentence, which means your story is dragging more than it needs to.

10. Don't use "start to"

Did you start to walk the dog, or did you walk the dog? Is the car starting to roll down the hill, or is it rolling down the hill?

"Start to" is a more difficult phrase to deal with than "in order to," because sometimes you do need it. But more likely than not, you don't.

Rather than making "start" the active verb, use the verb that's actually more active - like walking or rolling - to tell your story.

11. Nix "that"

In about five percent of your sentences (total guess from the grammar police), "that" makes your idea easier to understand. In the other 95 percent, get rid of it!

"I decided that journalism was a good career for me" reads better as "I decided journalism was a good career for me."

12. Replace "thing" with a better word

Usually when we write "thing" or "things," it's because we were too lazy to think of a better word. In every day life, we may ask for "that thing over there," but in your writing, calling anything a "thing" does not help your reader.

Try to replace all "thing" or "things" with a more descriptive word.

13. Try really hard to spot instances of "very" and "really"

This is a very difficult one to remember. I almost never get it right, until I go back through my copy, and the word jumps out at me, and then I change the sentence to "This is a difficult one to remember." Because really, how much is that "very" helping you get your point across?

It doesn't make the task sound more difficult. Same thing with "really." It's not a "really" difficult tip to remember. It's simply a difficult tip to remember. Got it?

14. Make your verbs stronger

"Make" is sometimes used in the same way as "start to," in place of what could be a stronger verb.

For example, I first titled this post, I wrote "25 ways to make your copy stronger." When I re-read it, I realized the verb wasn't strong.

I'd used "make" as the verb, when it doesn't tell the reader much at all. So I changed the title to "25 ways to strengthen your copy." Eventually I realized "tighten" was an even better verb.

15. Ditch the passive voice

Passive voice sticks out to editors, but it can be difficult to notice in your own writing. Learning how to identify it and fixing these instances will make your writing stronger.

Here's an example of passive voice: "The door was left open."

To change that sentence to active voice, it would look like this: "Someone left the door open" or "He left the door open." The idea is to be clear about who or what is executing the action.

If you want to get good at this, Self-Publishing School has a solid post explaining passive voice.

16. Refer to people as "who" not "that"

John is the guy who always forgets his shoes, not the guy that always forgets his shoes.

It's easy to make this mistake because "that" has become acceptable in everyday conversations. But it's more noticeable when it's written down.

17. Avoid "currently"

Pro copywriting tip: "Currently" is always redundant.

Don't write: "Tom Jones is currently a communications director." Tom Jones is a communications director at that moment. You don't need "currently" to clarify. Just get rid of it.

18. Eliminate "there is" or "there are" at the beginning of sentences

This is often a symptom of lazy writing. There are lots of better, more interesting ways to start sentences.

See how easy it is to make this mistake? Instead of starting a sentence with "there is," try turning the phrase around to include a verb or start with you.

For example, replace the sentence above with "Start your sentences in a more interesting way." If your copy includes a lot of phrases that begin with "there is" or "there are," put some time into rewriting most of them.

19. Match up your bullet points

Bullet points are a popular and effective way to organize complex ideas. Just make sure your bullets correspond to one another.

Too often, writers mix and match mistakes with what you should do or transition to shoulds halfway through the post - which only confuses the reader.

If your piece is called 3 Career Mistakes You Don't Want to Make, here's a bullet point that works:

Here's one that doesn't work (because it's not actually a mistake - the writer accidentally switched to what you should do):

You can turn most any idea into a tip by adding a verb. For example: "Remember that sitting on your head helps you write better." Make your bullet points consistent and your writing will read more smoothly.

20. Use contractions

Which sounds more personable: I am heading to the market that is close to my house, or I'm heading to the market that's close to my house?

Contractions make your writing sound friendlier, like you're (not you are) a real person. And that makes it easier to connect with readers.

Contractions can also make your post easier to read and comprehend. So go out of your way to include them in your posts! Your editor will thank you.

21. Steer clear of the "ing" trap

"We were starting to ..." or "She was skiing toward ..." Whenever you see an "ing" in your copy, think twice about whether you need it - because you probably don't.

Instead, get rid of "were" or "was," then eliminate that "ing" and replace it with past tense: "We started to ..." or "She skied toward ..." Pruning excessive "ings" makes your writing clearer and easier to read.

22. Check your commas with "that" and "which"

When used as a descriptor, the word "which" takes a comma. But the word "that" doesn't.

For example: "We went to the house that collapsed yesterday" or "We went to the house, which collapsed yesterday."

Confused about when to use "that" vs. "which?" Grammarly offers a great explanation.

23. Replace "over" with "more than" for numbers

Over 200 people did not like your Facebook page - more than 200 people did.

Of course, everyone will know what you mean if you use "over." In fact, the AP Styleguide, which many journalists follow as the bible of style, announced a few years ago that "over" is now acceptable in place of "more than."

But if we're being really nit-picky, using "more than" instead is still one a little detail that will help your writing shine.

24. Hyphenate modifiers

Whenever you modify a noun with more than one word, you need a hyphen. Lots of people don't follow this rule, so it's a great way to show you actually walk the walk.

That means you need a hyphen if you're writing about full-time work. But you don't need one if you're working full time.

Got it? The exception: No need to hyphenate modifiers that end in "ly." Those are OK on their own. So your newly hired employee doesn't need that hyphen.

25. Identify your tells

No matter how good of a writer you are, when you sit down to write a first draft, you have a tendency to spit out sentences in a certain way or use certain words. The more familiar you become with editing your own copy, the more quickly you should be able to pick up on your tells. And, the more ruthless you can be to eliminate them from your writing.

"Start to" plagued me while writing my book; I made the "start to" mistake again and again. But once I knew to look for it during revisions, I was able to correct it.

(Hint: If this is a problem for you, try using Word's or Google Doc's search function to look for "start." You'll catch each one, so you can evaluate them individually.)

Bonus: An editing checklist for how to edit your work (it's printable!)

Since we first published this post back in 2013, so many of you mentioned bookmarking and sharing the post that we whipped up a pretty editing checklist to go with it. It's available to download and print.

Pin this baby up on the wall above your desk, whip out your red pen, and get to work! Your blog post, feature article, or novel will be tighter and stronger in no time as you learn how to make edits.

If you want to download or print the editing checklist, click on it to bring up the full size.
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they're useful for our readers. Some of these tips originally ran on Copyblogger and AlexisGrant.com. These tips were compiled with the help of Betsy Mikel. Photo via Lamai Prasitsuwan/ Shutterstock

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How to Edit: 25 Tips for Improving Your Writing (Plus an Editing Checklist)

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Learning how to edit? Before sharing your writing with the world, apply these editing tips. We show you exactly how to make edits to your own work, using an editing checklist.

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While revision occurs throughout the writing process and involves such tasks as rethinking, overall structure, focus, thesis and support, editing and proofreading assume that the writer is working on the final draft and is in the process of making the paper "correct."Correct" punctuation, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, style, and word choice are important to the reader because they drastically affect perceptions of the writer's authority and credibility.

In general, effective editing and proofreading require that you reread your writing carefully, that you play the role of reader rather than writer, and that you use strategies to help you slow down and examine your writing.This handout presents strategies for both editing and proofreading.

Editing

Editing is the process writers use to catch errors typical to their own writing.Because editing focuses on problems that are particular to an individual writer – and that occur again and again – effective editing requires that you know the types of errors you typically make and that you have specific strategies for finding those errors.

Read the paper aloud as if you are reading a story.Listen for errors.If you listen carefully, you will be able to correct any errors that you hear.Listen for incomplete phrases, sentences and ideas, as well as things that "sound funny."

Stop and change anything you wish as soon as you see it – punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure.Move through the paper at a reasonable rate.

Read the entire paper.Listen for spots that aren't readable, that feel or sound awkward, or that don't seem clear.Mark these spots.Then, when you're done reading the whole paper, go back to fix them.

Allow yourself some time between writing your paper and editing.Ideally, wait a day; this allows the writing to "get cold," giving you an opportunity to "see" the errors.If you can't wait a day, go away and do something else for a while – work for another class, cleaning, eating – so that you can return to your work with a fresh mind and fresh eyes.

Read one sentence at a time.

Using a sheet of clean paper, cover all the text except the first sentence.Read this sentence carefully.Does it sound and look correct?Does it say what you want it to say?Continue down the page in the same way.

Look for patterns of error.

Personal patterns:All writers make mistakes that are typical of their writing.If you always forget commas, check for commas.If you always have trouble with transitions, look for transitions.If you work on wordiness, look for this.Bring your essays to the writing center!A tutor can help you to locate the patterns of error.

List:Keep a list of your "trouble spots."Use this as a checklist and refer to it as you edit.

4. Know your grammar and punctuation rules – or know where to look them up.

·Study the rules of grammar and punctuation.Review the ones you don't know.If you have a writing handbook or handouts, keep them out when you write.Refer to them when you have questions as you write and edit.

Proofreading

Proofreading, the final stage, focuses on "random goofs."The final draft has been corrected, but sometimes, because of computer error, fatigue, carelessness, or oversight, mistakes are still present.It is important to go through the paper one last time to catch these random goofs.

Read the paper as a reader.

Read and enjoy your work.Sit back, and read the paper as if you were the teacher.What do you notice?

Read one sentence/paragraph at a time.

·Take a clean sheet of paper, and place it under the first sentence of your paper.Read this sentence carefully.Do you see any mistakes, typos, or careless omissions?

·Start at the bottom of the page on the right side.Look at the words from right to left, check for spelling/typographical errors.

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General Strategies for Editing and Proofreading

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While revision occurs throughout the writing process and involves such tasks as rethinking, overall structure, focus, thesis and support, editing and proofreading assume that the writer is working on the final draft and is in the process of making the paper "correct."Correct" punctuation, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, style, and word choice are important to the reader because they drastically affect perceptions of the writer's authority and credibility.

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This resource is Primary based, however, the principles of the instruction could be applied to our context.

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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.

Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.

Teacher Resources by Grade

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Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan

Grades

3 - 5

Lesson Plan Type

Standard Lesson

Estimated Time

Three 45-minute sessions

Lesson Author

Publisher

Student Objectives Peer Editing as a Whole Class Peer Editing in Small Groups Individual Peer-Editing Practice Extensions Student Assessment/Reflections
STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

Learn the definition of peer editing

Understand and apply a three-step peer-editing process

Peer edit sample student writing in a whole-group, small-group, and individual setting

Use their knowledge of peer editing to develop a peer-editing assessment tool

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Peer Editing as a Whole Class
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2.

Tell students that they will learn how to peer edit more effectively. Explain that they will look at some samples of student writing. The writing prompt was

Think about a time you tried something new. Maybe it was your first day of school, your first time on a bike or bus, the first time you tried a skill learned in class, or the first time you tried a new sport.

Write a story about when you did something for the first time. Give enough details to show the reader what happened.

3.

Pass out (or use an overhead transparency) to show the sample student work-5 points. Read it aloud to students. Explain that there are three steps to peer editing: As you introduce each step, model a few compliments, suggestions, and corrections that you would make on the sample writing piece.

4.

Start with compliments. Talk about why it is important to give compliments first and the importance of "staying positive." Ask students to brainstorm compliments that they could give for the 5-point writing sample. Some things to look for may include Record students' compliments on the board or have them record them on paper.

5.

After students have brainstormed compliments, have them move on to the second step— suggestions. Ask students to think of suggestions they would make to the author. Students should remember that "put-downs" are not allowed. Remind students that they need to be specific when giving suggestions. For example, "The second sentence in the third paragraph is confusing to me. Maybe you could break it up into two separate sentences." Record students' suggestions on the board.

6.

Lastly, have students make corrections on the sample by checking for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Depending on the skills and routines in your classroom, you may want to have students use editing marks or simply circle or underline mistakes.

7.

To end the session, pass out the Peer Editing with Perfection! handout and quickly review the three steps to peer editing: compliments, suggestions, and corrections.

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Peer Editing in Small Groups
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1.

Pass out copies of the sample student work-4 points, and divide the class into small groups of three to four students each.

2.

Ask students to fold a blank sheet of paper into thirds and label the first column compliments, the second column suggestions, and the third column corrections.

Note: You may want to have students make corrections (the third step) directly on the writing sample, especially if they are using editing marks.

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Individual Peer-Editing Practice

EXTENSIONS

Have students practice their skills by peer editing a piece written by a classmate. Implement and instill the peer-editing technique by having students edit their classmates' written pieces on a regular basis.

Have students teach a fellow class to peer edit using the information they learned in this lesson.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

Review the Peer Edit with Perfection! worksheets completed during the PowerPoint tutorial. Assess using the answer key.

Work with the class to develop a peer-editing checklist for use with future peer editing. It should include all three steps to peer editing.

Start by asking students what they need to remember about the first step—compliments. Guide the class to create one or two checklist items related to compliments. Some ideas might include, "I gave the author of this piece at least two compliments" or "I was specific about what I liked about this piece of writing." Record these student-generated checklist items on the board or on chart paper.

Move through the other two steps of peer editing (suggestions and corrections) and generate several other checklist items. Some ideas might include, "I gave the author detailed suggestions about how to improve this piece of writing" or "I marked all the spelling and grammar errors that I saw in this piece of writing."

Once students have generated six to seven checklist items, record and type them up. Have students use the checklist as an assessment tool for future peer-editing sessions.

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Peer Edit With Perfection: Effective Strategies - ReadWriteThink

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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.