What’s the Difference Between Editing vs. Revising? Your Questions, Answered

You’re sitting in front of a writing assignment that counts for 75% of your final grade. You know you need to ace it, but you’re really struggling to strengthen your writing and don’t know where to turn. 

Your instructor always uses the words “editing” and “revising,” and you have an idea of what they mean, but you don’t really know the difference. 

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So, what is the difference between the two? How can you use both of these to improve your writing?

Keep reading to learn the differences between editing vs. revising. Then, you can guarantee you’ll ace that next paper and blow away your instructors. 

Editing vs. Revising

If you’re a student or ever have been a student, you’ve likely heard both of these terms plenty of times. Unfortunately, they’re often used interchangeably as a blanket term in writing, but it’s important to understand the difference between them. 

Revising

Revising deals with the writing content and is used to expand and strengthen ideas that you already have. It is usually done before editing during the rough draft stage.

Revising comes with a lot of collaboration and requires communication. 

Instead of correcting mistakes like in editing, revising is more of a conversation between peers to clarify the writing and understand the material’s real purpose. 

While editing is removing one or two words, fixing spelling mistakes, or correcting grammatical errors, revising sometimes includes taking out an entire paragraph or rewriting multiple sections. 

Editing

When you’re working on any piece of writing, you’re most likely going to have yourself, the writer, and someone to look over it, the editor. Editing deals with the writing structure, making corrections to things like spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  

It also analyzes the writing on a sentence level and makes sure that each sentence makes sense. 

In the academic setting, instructors often use editing to grade papers and point out mistakes that need to be fixed. So lots of fine-tuning happens here.

Editing usually comes after revising, polishing everything, and making sure everything fits together as it should. 

Revision Process

One of the first things you’re going to want to do in your revision process is to revisit the purpose of your writing.

Is it to entertain, inform, or persuade? Make sure that this purpose is consistent with your tone and writing style. 

After identifying your purpose, you should make sure the evidence you have to support your ideas makes sense.

Most academic writing assignments require some evidence, and it should be relatable to what you’re writing. 

When revising, also look at your transition words. They’re great for increasing the flow of your writing, but you need to make sure they make sense. 

Do they flow nicely into your next topic or idea? Are they placed naturally, or are they overused? Do they indicate the relationship between paragraphs or sections?

Finally, look at your conclusion. Ask yourself if it is merely restating your introduction or if it is actually nicely tying everything up.

You want your conclusion to leave the reader with no questions but still wanting more. You don’t want them to be relieved that they are finished reading. 

Editing Process

After revising, editing comes next. Once you feel like your writing flows together nicely and is coherent, you’ll want to look at it on more of a sentence level instead of the writing as a whole. 

Look at sentence length. Determine which sentences are fluff or are too short and just unnecessary. Break up longer sentences so that they can be easier to read. 

The University of Toronto turns to “The ASAP Principle,” keeping sentences “As Short as Possible.” Adding extra words to the sentences to increase the difficulty or technicality can be tempting, but it often just makes your writing messier. 

Tips for Effective Editing and Revising

Read Your Material Backward, One Sentence at a Time. 

You’ll want to start at the last sentence and work your way from there. Reading backward can help you process what you’ve written and make sure each sentence really makes sense. 

Make Yourself a Checklist to Make Sure You Haven’t Missed Anything. 

When you’re writing a paper or doing some other assignment, you always have to follow certain criteria. If it’s for school, you probably have a rubric to follow. 

Keep this handy and check things off as you go. Usually, the most important components include an introduction, a thesis statement, strong evidence to support your ideas, and a conclusion. 

Be Aware Of Word Choice and Consistency.

Make sure that the words you use are consistent with the tone of your writing.

For example, if you’re using an informal tone in your writing, try not to use big, technical words that are hard to understand without context.

Feedback is Key

Getting peers or instructors to look at your work is important, as it’s likely they might catch things you may not have.

Using an online service to help you edit an assignment can be a great resource.

Having outside opinions and feedback can help you figure out what is clear in your writing and what needs a bit more clarifying.

While you know what you’re trying to say, it will look different to others, and it might not make sense. 

Take Your Time!

Editing or revising is not something that takes one day and just one person reading over your assignment. 

Read through it yourself, have someone else read through it, and then reread it. Then, give yourself enough time for editing before your due date. 

It will make a world of difference. 

Happy Writing!

So, now you know, there is actually a pretty drastic difference between editing vs. revising. However, using both of them in your writing process is guaranteed to set you up for success.

Feel free to contact us to help with your assignments and learn more about the services we have to eliminate that writing stress.