Revising and redrafting Tips

Students have noted that it can be difficult to write good answers that fit the length expectations of a particular assignment. Revising and redrafting is important in academic writing and will give you the opportunity to create an answer that is good both in quality and quantity. While this is not mandatory, if you find yourself struggling, follow these tips for guidance:

1)   Before attending to the style and language of what you wrote, make sure that what you’ve written fulfills the requirements of the question you’re answering. That is, have you performed the kind of thinking the question asks for (e.g., analyse, argue, compare, explore)? Have used concepts, terminology and methods of reasoning discussed in the course? Have you supplied evidence to support your reasoning? Once you have identified the sentences that meet the requirements, irrelevant sentences can be removed to shorten the word count.

2)    When you have all the necessary information included in your answer, look at the overall organization of sentences. Do they follow logically (i.e., do they link back to what has just been said, but also lead into the next point)?

Tip: Use logical statements, not just a sprinkling of connecting words.

3)   Next, polish and edit your style and language. This includes making changes to word choice, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Tip: Try reading your answer out loud to see if you’ve achieved the emphasis and tone you want. Also, be sure to spellcheck, and don’t depend too much on a thesaurus.

Adapted by Lauren Bigelow from Revising and Editing by Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support.

 Return to LIN251 syllabus || Updated 10 August 2022