Planning, Revising and Editing Writing
Plan, revise, and edit writing to improve coherence and effectiveness — considering how the writing reflects its intended audience and purpose, amending vocabulary, grammar, and structure, and proofreading for accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar
What a learner can do afterwards
- Revise a draft to improve paragraph structure, adding or removing material for coherence
- Edit sentence-level issues including word choice, grammar, and punctuation before finalising
- Reflect on whether the writing achieves its intended effect on the target audience and adjust accordingly
The lesson
Finishing a first draft feels like the hard part is done, but good writers know the real work comes next. Once you have something written down, you go back and make it better. First you revise. Then you edit.
Revising means looking at the big picture. Ask yourself: do my paragraphs make sense in this order? Did I leave out an example my reader needs? Did I include something that doesn't belong? You might move a paragraph, cut a sentence, or add new details so your ideas connect.
Priya wrote about her weekend trip, but her reader felt confused about why the trip mattered. Priya moved her explanation up to the second sentence instead of the last one. Now her reader understands her point right away. That's revising: a change to structure, not just wording.
Editing comes after revising. It means fixing smaller things: a confusing word, a run-on sentence, a missing comma. Read your sentences one at a time, and always think about your audience. Would this word or sentence make sense to the person reading it?
Revise for ideas and structure, edit for words and sentences, then proofread last for spelling and punctuation.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.