How Do You Edit an Essay?

Humanities › Languages

How Do You Edit an Essay?

According to Elizabeth Lyons, "Some of the most effective editing involves tightening . . .. SHORTEN a work and it becomes better" (Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write, 2000). 

By Richard Nordquist 

Updated May 24, 2018

Proofreading Guide

A Guide to Proofreading

Posted by The Ginger Team | October 25th 2011

Proofreading is an essential part of the writing process, no matter what type of document you are writing. Mistakes can include anything from misunderstanding English grammar, to spelling errors, usage of wrong words, and simply typos – but either way such mistakes reflect on the writer, and can be easily avoided by proofreading.

Once you are writing a text, you become very familiar with it. So familiar that your eye might easily skip over m1stak3s that you would otherwise recognize immediately. The most important tip for successful proofreading is to make yourself, or someone else, be able to read the text from a fresh point of view.

NEVER begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction

You will NEVER

BEGIN a sentence

with a

coordinating conjunction

First, you will need to be able to recognize coordinating conjunctions when you see them.

And, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet—these are the seven coordinating conjunctions. To remember all seven, you might want to learn one of these acronyms: FANBOYS, YAFNOBS, or FONYBAS.

Idioms Become Monsters

When Idioms Become Monsters

Close but no cigar, fly off the handle, he is pulling your leg, I was beside myself—we see idioms like these all the time, even though the closer we look, the less sense many of them make.

Sometimes two familiar expressions get jumbled. When that happens, the result is what you might call a “Frankenstein formation,” a nod to the mad scientist who created a monster by conjoining parts that didn’t belong together.