A Simplified Essay Editing Process

The essay editing process is one of the most important exercises students would have to engage in while compiling essays. Very often, less attention is paid to editing, as students are not prepared to take the initiate and check their own essays. Corrections are made in class by teachers and students adapt to corrected formats. They find little help when they progress through to high school and college. At this stage, students are expected to have mastered the process of editing. Those students who did not practice the right methods would find it difficult to edit an essay. In some cases, they would just not understand where they went wrong. The editing process includes repetitively looking for errors in written content using tried and tested methods.
1.       Use a word processor’s spell check feature. Most word processors would check entered content for spelling and syntax errors. Students should complete compiling the essay before beginning the spell check process. Once spell check is complete, the essay would be relatively easier to go through.
2.       Read the essay several times during the essay editing process. Students can make corrections in content and correct sentence structure errors as they read through it. The process would generate more ideas that could be included. Students must note down these ideas in a rough book or note pad for further reference. If time permits, they can read the essay once again at a later hour to include the fresh ideas generated. The logic should be to include points in order of their importance. Before finalizing the essay, it must read be read again to ensure that all required changes have been incorporated.
3.       Research is vital for the success of a professional essay. While reading through it, questions may arise regarding the essay question. Students may find answers incomplete or not informative enough. They must conduct a research and find the appropriate information. The internet is a powerful tool and search engines would leads students to the appropriate website at the click of a button. A good method, however, is to have a list of websites that offer information on the topic under discussion. It would help save time and also provide students with basic research material.
4.       The editing process includes checking for style of writing. Institutes have listed specifications for academic papers and essays. Students need to practice writing essays using the specified style guide. For example, the American Psychological Association (APA) have published a style guide on how content is to be included in an essay or academic paper. Students would do well to spend some time trying to fulfill all these requirements in their essays. They must make efforts to include complex formats and bibliographies.
5.       Finally, to develop an original and compelling essay, students must compulsorily engage in the essay editing process for all written assignments. Developing a style of writing takes time. The editing process exposes students to the process on a regular basis. The mind set changes from being a writer to an editor. Students become more fluent in their writing and incorporating changes becomes easier by following an essay writing format.