Editing

Good writing depends on good editing. As a writer, you are responsible for editing and revising your own work, even if you work on a newspaper staff or in a large corporate communications office where others will edit your work. You are the originator, the one who must shape and streamline the initial draft. The draft must be clear, fair, accurate, and complete when it leaves your hands.

As you gain experience as a writer, you also will be asked to revise to work of others. You may be promoted to an editing position or solicited by others who know less than you do about good writing skills.

Examining structure

If your piece needs substantial revisions, you may need to consider again the audience and ask, does the message attract audience attention and meet audience needs? Does the lead adequately set up the article? Are all the points raised in the lead answered in subsequent paragraphs? Is the lead itself interesting and written in a way to attract an audience into the message?

 

To hold the audience with the message, a writer must look at the overall organization and ask

 

-       Is the message developed logically? Do facts follow in a clear sequence?

-       Is the transition from one point to another effective? Each paragraph should be tied to the previous one.

-       Are paragraphs organized so that each contains one thought or idea? Readers will be confused if too many thoughts are packaged into one paragraph. Start a new paragraph – basically a unit of organization- with each new quote or each new idea.

-       Are there statements or sentences that stop you because they are out of context?

-       Do all the quotes add to the message? Would it be better to paraphrase or omit some?

 

Again, the answers to these question may require rewriting.

To determine if you need more information, ask

 

-      Is the message up to date? Are the latest statistic used?

-       Are any questions raised that aren’t answered? Each message must be complete.

 

The answer to the questions in this step of editing are guidelines for how much reporting and rewriting must be done so that copy is complete and flows smoothly and logically.

 

Checking  For accuracy

No aspect of writing is more important than accuracy. Research show that even one error in  a newspaper can cause readers to doubt the rest of the paper and to have less faith in