Revision of Essay Drafts The initial revision should foc

Revision of Essay Drafts
   Good morning, everyone. In today’s lecture, I’m going to talk about how to revise essay drafts and give you some tips as well.
   The initial revision should, of course, focus on the essay as a whole. You’d ask yourself— Do I reach my writing objective? Does my essay directly answer the question? Is my main idea clear? In order to answer these questions, what you need to do first is to revise for content. The typical rough draft may have too little and too much content, all at the same time. It will have touched the surface of some portions of the essay, without providing adequate explanation or convincing detail. At the same time, it may have discussed things that do not contribute significantly to your major points.
   So, what is a good essay then? A good essay eliminates irrelevant material while including all the information necessary to your main point. Your reader needs sufficient evidence to accept what you are saying, so you have to make sure you have adequately developed and supported your main idea. Content that is unrelated to the main idea should be eliminated.
   Then, what is the second step in revision? That is revise for organization. A well-organized essay will group similar ideas together and put them in the proper order. If you find it easy to produce an outline from your draft, this means that there is a clear logic to the flow of the content, and you can be reasonably certain that you have a well-ordered essay. Otherwise, reorder your content.
   The third step you are advised to take is to revise for length. Is your essay approximately the right length? If it is substantially longer than the stated limit, you have to consider reducing the supporting material. But even if there is no stated limit, or you are allowed to write as long as you like, please adhere to a self-imposed limit and, unless addressing a topic that needs lengthy explanation, stick to it.
   The steps I have mentioned so far actually refer to revision of an essay as a whole. The next step is to revise for components of the essay, including the paragraphs, sentences and individual words. You may ask, how am I going to revise paragraphs? Well, I’d say a paragraph is not arbitrarily formed. It should revolve around an idea, a theme. Let me tell you one way to revise paragraphs. Isolate a paragraph at a time and make sure it runs smoothly and is not merely a bunch of unrelated statements put together.
   As for revision of sentences and words, most essay writers pile on one long sentence after another. Well, I suggest you avoid this by breaking up some of the longer sentences to provide variety. Use short sentences to make important points, and long sentences to explain complex ideas. Also try to use a variety of sentence structures to maintain reader interest. Eliminate sentences that sound awkward when read aloud.
   For diction, a very important tip is to eliminate imprecise or wordy language. For example, use “although” instead of “despite the fact that”. Try to add vigor to your writing by removing clichés and use fresh and interesting descriptions. Try to write as much as possible with nouns and verbs, rather than primarily with adjectives that slow the pace and reduce impact. Similarly, write in the active, not the passive voice.
   Now, let me just repeat what I have said today. Revision is important. When you revise your draft as a whole, pay attention to content, organization and length. But, don’t forget to revise your essay in detail. Revision of sentences and words can also make the essay more interesting to readers.