Saturday, February 14, 2009
Editing takes time.
The statement Murray makes about looking at the big picture when editing I feel helped me when it came to writing my personal essay. I typically don't edit my papers, especially when I write them late at night or when I do I only check for spelling and grammar mistakes. I now have begun to focus more on the stylistic aspects of my papers because it isn't hard to change a few small things to make a big difference. One of the hardest problems I do have when editing though is once I change one thing, the whole essay may need to be reworked which can take forever. What seems like a simple task of adding or deleting a few words soon turns into writing a whole new paper but I guess that is the sacrifice for good grades. One tip I learned last semester in the infamous Writing 100 was when in the editing process is to make sure that all sentences and most importantly, all topic sentences in the essay relate back and make sense with the thesis statement. This too I feel helps substantially in my writing.
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Hey I learned that too last semester! What you say should always relate back to your thesis, if it doesn't you know you are starting to get off track.
ReplyDeleteThe topic sentence check is a great way to do that!
I, too, have felt that when I edit it means changing everything. Re-working an essay is not very fun.
ReplyDeleteI learned checking my writing while the paper still in its process. I found it helpful for I could notice if my writing is actually relate back to my thesis or not. And it could also save me from re-editing everything at the end when suddently realized my paragraphs did not relate to each other.
ReplyDeleteI hate editing, but i do find that if i take the time to edit the major problems in the beginning, I have an easier time editing things in the end.
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