Handouts about Revision

Revision—All writing requires revision, which means more than just running a spellchecker. Writers should revise in a hierarchical order. First, begin revising global aspects of writing (content, organization), then move on to the smaller, detail-oriented aspects (style, varied sentence structure, etc.). The list below will help you take a hierarchical approach to revising your writing.

Levels of Diction—Traditionally, the revision process is the most appropriate time to consider your level of diction. Depending on the audience you're addressing and the image you want to present, you can use different words (diction) to say the same thing. This handout should help you decide what words are appropriate for your paper.

Economy in Writing—Writing is wordy when it uses more words than are necessary to convey meaning. Eliminate wordiness as you revise your writing.

Paragraph Unity and Coherence—A paragraph is a sequence of related sentences that develop a single idea. The main idea can be implied, but most often is directly stated in a topic sentence that begins the paragraph. The paragraph is unified if all of the sentences support the main idea or topic sentence and coherent if the sentences build upon the previous sentences within the paragraph. Controlling both these elements is essential fo effective writing.

Logical Fallacies—An important academic skill is detecting and avoiding logical fallacies. An argument commits a logical fallacy when its validity rests upon irrelevant appeal, improper generalization, false assertion of cause, or questionable assumption. This handout identifies general categories and discusses specific types of fallacies. An example and explanation is given for each type.

Transitions—Transitions enhance clarity and create coherence; they tell a reader how ideas, para­graphs, and sentences relate to each other. Transitions also enhance the continuity of writing, creating a flow of ideas from paragraph to paragraph and from sentence to sentence.

Parallel Structure—Simply stated, Parallel Structure or Parallelism means using the same grammatical structure to express equal ideas in a sequence. This can be done by keeping the same verb tense, by using the same voice (passive or active), or by using the same phrase or clause structure. Overall, parallel structure is all about clarity.

Avoiding Shifts—Shifting between verb tenses while writing causes confusion for your readers because they don't know which tense is accurate. Avoiding these faulty shifts in your writing is imperative.

Pronoun Usage—A pronoun is a substitute for a noun. It refers to a person, place, thing, feeling, or quality, but does not refer to it by name. Though useful, pronouns can also be troublesome. Because pronouns are substitutes for other words, it is important that they clearly refer to the word they replace and that they properly agree with all antecedents in person, number, and gender.

Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers—Modifiers, whether words or word groups, are supposed to make writing clearer.

Active and Passive Voice—English has two voices, active and passive, which describe the relationship between the subject and verb of the sentence. Voice indicates whether a subject acts or is acted upon. Understanding the definition, use, and effect of both active and passive voice will enable you to write more powerfully.

Word Choice—Word choice can help portray many types of people: humble or cocky, intelligent or dim-witted, fun-loving or boring. In school papers, word choice can also show whether you really know what you're talking about or whether you are simply trying to hide a poor idea behind inflated diction, or "high flown words," to use colloquial language.