2. Agenda
You should have one clean copy of your
revised draft for these exercises.
Common Writing Errors
Incorrect spacing
Missing Words.
Revision Strategies
Eliminating Repetition
Review; MLA review
3. Common Writing Errors
Incorrect spacing Missing Words.
This error can be corrected This error too can be
by careful reading. Turn on corrected by careful reading,
your grammar checker. especially reading aloud.
• Several qualities will mark • An example: "I would
the successful happy to meet you," which
candidate:confidence, is missing the verb "be."
trustworthiness,
competence-- and desire.
5. 1. Read your work backwards, starting with the last sentence
and working your way in reverse order to the beginning.
Supposedly this works better than reading through from the
beginning because your brain knows what you meant to write,
so you tend to skip over errors when you're reading forwards.
1. Read your work out loud. This forces you to read each word
individually and increases the odds that you'll find a typo.
1. Always proofread a final printed version of your work.
Proofreading on a computer monitor is more difficult than
going over it on paper.
2. Give yourself some time. If possible, let your work sit for a
while before you proofread it. When you clear your mind and
approach the writing anew, your brain is more able to focus
on the actual words, rather than seeing the words you think
you wrote.
7. Eliminate Redundant Words and
Phrases
1. absolutely certain: Certainty has no room for doubt; it's absolute.
2. absolutely never: Never is always absolute.
3. ask a question: It's impossible to ask anything except a question.
4. ATM machine: The M in ATM means machine.
5. basic essentials: If they are essentials, they must be basic.
6. close proximity: You cannot have far proximity. Delete close
7. combined together: If you combine things, they have to be together
8. completely finish: Can you partly finish? Delete completely.
9. continue on: Can you continue off? Delete on.
10. month of July: Everybody knows July is a month.
8. Remove Repetitive
Sentences
• Another common occurrence in writing is
repetitive sentences. Although they may
seem necessary for effect or emphasis, they
actually attribute to wordiness.
• Consider the sentences, “The oven had quit
working. It was broken.” The second
sentence, while it may corroborate the
first, is repetitive. Removing it unclutters the
writing without altering or diminishing the
meaning.
9. How to Eliminate
Repetition
• Rule 1 - Words beginning sentences
• Never start two consecutive sentences with the same word.
• I have seen instances of six sentence paragraphs with each
sentence starting with the same word. Fixing this will
immediately elevate your writing
• Rule 2 - Words beginning paragraphs
• There should be at least four (4) paragraphs starting with
different words before you use the same paragraph starting word
again.
• This provides the reader with a smoother ride through your
essay
• Rule 3 - Do focused page scans for other repetitions
• Scan each page for extensive repetitive use of particular words.
The time you take to find all instances of repetitions in your work
10. More suggestions
• Rule 4 - Never repeat a descriptive phrase
• Some writers get a bit carried away when they devise
a great phrase. They start to use it every few pages -
or several times on the same page. Don't turn your
own brilliance into a cliché or an avoidable error.
• Rule 5 - Make finding repetitions a separate
editing run on your essay
• Because eliminating repetition is such an important
part of producing high quality work, make this a
separate editing run on your essay.
11. Check for Repetition in your
Essay
• Look for redundancies.
• Small little; perfectly clear
• Look for repetitive sentences.
• I went to the store. At the store I bought
ice cream.
• Look to see if you are using the same
words to begin sentences or paragraphs.
• There are; Later; At the ranch; Mary
13. Review MLA
• Last name and page number in header, on right
side, .5 inches from the top.
• Heading double-spaced and correct. Check the date
format.
• Title is original, centered, not bolded or underlined.
• Margins are 1” all around
• Quotations, summaries, and paraphrases are cited
correctly.
• A Works Cited page contains a complete list of
sources used in the preparation of the essay.
