Editing and Proofreading

Essay-level editing

Editing in 3 rounds

Rather than editing every aspect of your writing at the same time, aim to edit in rounds, focusing on three key elements in turn: a) structure and flow, b) academic style, spelling and grammar, and c) formatting and presentation. Editing in this way is much more time efficient: you can concentrate on one feature at a time, and move quickly through the text, particularly if you are using a standard paragraph model to structure your writing.

Top tip: Try reading your essay backwards sentence by sentence, starting with the last line of the conclusion. This will help you to take a step back from your writing and to read more actively, rather than skimming over sections that you are already very familiar with.

Editing essay structure

In the editing stage, it is important to check that your essay follows a clear line of argument and moves logically and methodically towards your conclusion. One way of checking this is to create a skeleton of your essay, helping you to identify the key message of each paragraph and to check that your ideas link together.

1. Print out your essay and stick one post-it note next to each paragraph. Write down a bullet point that summarises the key point or argument of the paragraph.
2. Line up your post-it notes in paragraph order and read them aloud, explaining how you jump from one key point to the next.
3. If two ideas seem very different, go back to your essay and check that you clearly explain how you move from point A to point B in your writing. You may be able to add in a signposting word or phrase to make the link clearer. If you need to add an extra sentence or two to explain the link, do this at the start of the next paragraph, as this helps to keep your paragraphs focused on a single topic.
4. If you find you have more than one point on a post-it note, this is a sign that your paragraph may be too dense. To solve this, either split your ideas to create two paragraphs or rewrite the topic sentence to accurately mirror the content of the paragraph.

For more information on structuring your essays, including how to write introductions and conclusions, please see our guide to planning and structuring your assignment.