Continuing in our editing theme…
Bit #22 – Editing Continued
Here are some additional editing tips to try.
- Put your almost final draft through rounds of editing.
Editing is most difficult when we do not know what we are looking for when editing our work. A great place to start is by conducting editing rounds to look at specific words and phrases that can be changed or omitted to strengthen our writing.
You can edit at the sentence and paragraph level.
For a checklist of editing rounds and step-by-step instructions for editing, see this PowerPoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mrLxBx60hSKWYdBU5hwcTk-dbF6YBg_zxrE5BSqXSUI/edit?usp=sharing
- Search and destroy filler words.
Filler words are often overused and add more confusion and noise than clarity to our writing. Search for the filler words and phrases below and try to remove as many as possible.
Filler Words:
among, amongst, it, that, this, throughout, whether or not, which, within, of
Filler Phrases:
of the, to the, on the, in the, at the, there is, there are, there were, a brief discussion, at this point in time, end result, final conclusions, final outcome, first and foremost, for the purpose of
Be Verbs:
am, is, are, was, were, be, been, will be
Try these two editing tips and let me know how your writing is transformed transforms. 🙂
