As a student, part of the process of becoming a better writer is learning to revise one's written work. For many children, revising is difficult, and for good reason. When a child crafts an essay, for example, he or she invests a lot of energy into collecting his or her thoughts, organizing them, and writing them in a coherent and compelling way. Completing a draft feels like a monumental feat, so it's tempting to spell check and call it done, but revising is a critical part of the writing process.
When working with children on revising their written work, talk with them about what revising actually means. Here are four ways to help your child revise well:
1. Explain that revision is different than proofreading or editing.
As your child becomes a more experienced writer, he or she must learn to understand the differences between revision and proofreading or editing. Revision addresses organization, focus and purpose, and helps a writer assess whether he or she addresses an audience appropriately and explains his or her thoughts clearly and logically. Editing is the process of reviewing a piece for errors, word choice, clarity, tone and the like. Proofreading is the final quality check for correct spelling and proper punctuation and capitalization.
2. Break writing into steps.
Young students are taught that writing involves developing an idea and putting it on paper. But advanced writers understand that a finished piece should be polished - an impossibility if that piece has not been carefully revised at least once. Your child should think of the writing process as six separate steps, each of which is important:
Planning/outlining
Writing
Revising
Editing
Proofreading
Final read-through
3. Think big picture.
Adding or deleting words isn't revising. Discuss your child's written work on a conceptual level. If he or she is trying to convince the reader of something in an essay, it is important to ask pertinent questions when revising that essay. Is the argument well thought out? How did he or she support that argument? Is there information in the essay that, at second look, does not need to be there?
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