How to Edit Your Writing
Grammar, Clarity, and Coherence
Most of us write first drafts that have sentences that are difficult to understand, paragraphs that need to be arranged, and many typos and errors. Fortunately, through the editing process, rough first drafts can become clearer second drafts, and polished final drafts. Editing involves revising your paper substance, structure, and style. Good editors begin by considering higher-level concerns, such as whether their argument is clear and well supported and the organization of their paragraphs makes sense. They then move to sentence-level concerns, which requires an understanding of how to identify and fix common grammar mistakes. The resources in this section are designed to help you become a better editor of your own writing.