How to Edit Your Own Work

chillibreeze writer — Mahjia Adulkader

We all would love to believe that we produce perfect work, encompassing matter and soul and requiring no amount of edit or rework. But alas, this is not always true!

Writing (or creating) and editing are two different aspects of the written profession – interlinked, yet, separate entities – and should ideally be treated as such. We cannot produce a good article without ensuring that it has been edited well. Constantly checking for grammatical errors and reworking troublesome sentences hinder the writing process. So let’s not begin the editing process till we have created the article in its entirety.

It is difficult to edit our own work as we tend to glaze right through it (assuming its fine), or rework it so much that we lose the subject matter in its entirety. So after you create your first draft, take a step back and catch a breather, get a cup of coffee or take a walk and clear your head, and then come back to begin the editing process.

Article:
First, begin by imagining that you are the audience. Read the paper as you would one for the first time and see:

• If it makes sense? Would the reader understand what you're trying to say?
• Did it hold your interest from begin to end?
• Did it encompass all info you need and is it all accurate?
• Could you summarize the article as a headline?
• Are the guidelines, such as submission guidelines and formatting, met?

Paragraphs:
Next, make sure all paragraphs are short and conform to one central idea. You can create a temporary title to summarize the idea you’re trying to convey. Ensure each paragraph has one theme sentence, two supporting statements and one concluding sentence. Make sure a paragraph is four to six sentences long and are presented in a logical order that lead the reader through the story.

Sentences:
Now, we can work on the sentences. Edit sentences having 25 or more words and make them shorter or consider turning them into two sentences.

• Replace long words and phrases with short ones.
• Repair incomplete sentences and run-on sentences.
• Use active tense instead of passive tense. This will reduce the number of words in a sentence and make it easier to read and understand.
• Do not include unnecessary lists of adjectives, qualities or topics.
• Try and add white space between paragraphs in the form of bullets or subheads.
• Ensure that not all sentences begin with a repeated word like ‘the’ or ‘a’.
• Reorder sentences if needed.

Words and Punctuation:
We can now work on the words, the bulk of the article. Do a spell-check and confirm all are as you intended. Spell-check doesn’t make distinctions for homonyms (‘to’ or ‘two’) and for errors such as ‘from’ or ’form’ so pay special attention to them.

• Verify spellings and capitalization of names, places and organizations.
• Confirm definitions and pay attention to problem words like ‘ensure’ or ‘assure’.
• Check the tense of each sentence.
• Cut adverbs, adjectives, distracting words or culturally inappropriate words.
• Ensure one space is present after a comma and a period. Do not neglect or overuse commas and avoid exclamation marks if possible.
• Check formatting, margins, consistency in style of headings - font, bold, capitalization, US or UK style, etc.

Now as a final step, print out the document and read it out aloud. This is a good way to catch mistakes, large and small, mechanical and stylistic. You should be done with the editing process. It may not be perfect but it’s a start and editing gets better with practice.

Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com).

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in September, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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