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How to Revise – A Step-By-Step Guide to Revising Your Writing
By WR!TERS@WORK
Before students can confidently enter their English examinations, some amount of revision and practice is required – something WRITERS AT WORK educators firmly believe will be beneficial to your child’s overall performance be it in primary or secondary school. It is important to go over your past mistakes so that you do not repeat them during the exam. WRITERS AT WORK students will know the importance of doing their first and second drafts – the purpose of rewriting the same essay again is to ensure that the important lessons to learn are grasped by the student before they go for the exam. WRITERS AT WORK students know all too well that it does not hurt to revise important phrases you will need. In this blog post, we will go over the various steps to revising your writing!
What is Revising Your Writing?
Revising your writing does not only mean that you are trying to study for an exam. Revising is part of proofreading – it makes big changes like altering the main subject of the essay, reworking the order the paragraphs are in, or changing things about the essay’s structure. Revising also may include some minor proofreading edits such as checking for grammar and spelling mistakes, or changing some turns of phrases which sound odd, or changing the vocabulary of a sentence to better suit its current context. Any essay could do with a revision – nobody writes the first draft of something and can expect it to be good to go from the start.
How to Revise Your Writing: The Necessary Steps
1. Prepare for Revision
Naturally, revision can only take place once the rough draft has been finished. WRITERS AT WORK recommends students to take a break after writing the first draft. It is important that you approach your writing with fresh editorial eyes – if you start revising too soon after you have written the first draft, you may not be able to spot areas where the writing needs polishing. Moreover, having some time before revising allows room for the student to conduct further research – maybe the student needs several phrases or words that the composition was missing and needs to ask someone else for it or find it online. Another good way to prepare for revision is to get your teacher to read your draft.
2. Look at the Topic Again and Make Sure the Essay Fits the Topic
One of the most common mistakes PSLE students make when undertaking Situational Writing or Composition Writing is failing to read the instructions. There are a number of key instructions students need to absorb, regarding the format, topic, and details of the essay. Students who gloss over these details without including them in their essay will stand to lose marks. Before the student starts writing, they should circle or write down these key bits of information next to the question to make it easier for them to refer to when writing.
3. Look at the Structure of the Essay – Does it Flow Well?
Many essays do not do well because the structure of the essay does not flow well. Paragraphs should have a logical flow – the easiest way to ensure that there is a logical flow is to read through the entire thing. If you feel confused as to how you made a leap of logic from one paragraph to another, it means that the essay is lacking in flow. Planning your essay out before writing may help you get a better structure. Sometimes, students will carry on writing nonchalantly before realising too late that they have missed an important paragraph. Having to backtrack, erase everything, and rewrite the paragraphs in the correct order and manner may prove futile given the time pressure, if at all the opportunity is available. As such, planning your essay before you start writing is an important part of the writing process.
4. Are There Any Words That Shouldn’t Be There?
Redundant words are superfluous words, and they are not necessary in your writing because people will read it and feel like they have read nothing, even though they have just read a whole bunch of words. Notice how many words the previous sentence contained? All that is simply to say that students should eliminate redundancies in their writing! Many students think that just because their essay looks to be of an impressive length that it will be equally impressive in substance. However, this is not what the examiners think. Repeating your point and, as they say, flogging a dead horse will not earn you extra marks. In fact, it shows the examiner that you have nothing further to add to the essay and that you are just trying to pad the essay out.
5. Proofreading and Editing
The final step is to check for grammatical and spelling errors. Here’s a tip – when students are checking for grammatical errors, they should read once to get all the grammatical errors. Only then they should move on to another category of errors, such as spelling errors. Trying to check for all the errors at once may be too overwhelming and may cause the student to miss out on more things as a result. Students should not spend too little time proofreading – even the best writers need editors to check for spelling, grammatical, and syntax errors. As such, when the student is re-reading their essay, they should take their time to get all the errors in their writing.
How to Revise a Paragraph: PSLE Sample Question Edition
Imagine you are Rita Tan. Write an email to the principal of Ace Primary School, Mr Mohan, to inform him about the misbehaviour of the pupils. Include the following information: when and where the incident took place, who the culprits were, two acts the boys did that were unacceptable, and how the boys reacted after you stopped them. You may reorder the points.
Here is the first draft of a paragraph:
Dear Mr Mohan,
I am writing to tell you about some boys who did not behave well. They were playing football at 3pm on 7 October 2023 at the void deck of Block 315. They were playing football and littering. They left dirt marks on the walls and litter on the floor. They ran away when I told them off. I hope you will talk to these boys because this incident has left a bad impression of your school. I think they will benefit from a stern talking to and maybe some punishment.
Here is the revised draft of a paragraph:
Dear Mr Mohan,
I would like to share an incident with you concerning some pupils at your school. There were two boys playing football at the void deck of Block 315 on the 7th of October 2023 at 3pm. There was a sign which clearly stated that playing football was not allowed. The boys played football anyway and left dirt marks on the walls of the void deck. Furthermore, they threw their rubbish on the floor. When I told them off, they ran away without cleaning up the mess.
I would appreciate it if you were to speak to these boys about this matter. This incident would otherwise leave a bad impression on the school, and I think it is important that the boys know what they have done wrong and what not to do in future.
Thank you.
How Can Parents Help Their Children Revise?
Parents can help their children out by reading Model Compositions together before their exams. Students should organise their files and papers so that they have all their WRITERS AT WORK notes handy for revision. Instead of skimming and glossing over their mistakes, students should know why they have gotten something wrong and how they can avoid it in future. With proper corrections, time, and effort to revise properly, students will be able to ace their English exams!
Master the English Language with WRITERS AT WORK!
English is a compulsory subject which all students must undertake. However, mastering the English language is not something which happens overnight – it takes consistent practice and effort to learn the nuances of the language. Students must read more and practice writing to gradually improve. Cramming for a language subject nearer to the exams is an impossible feat. After all, Rome was not built in a day! Attaining such a skill will have positive implications for not only your child’s education in school, but also employment prospects in future.
At WRITERS@WORK, we are committed to providing the smoothest learning experience for your child sitting for their English exams. With our carefully curated methods of teaching your child how to write well, your child will learn how to present their thoughts and arguments in a coherent and concise manner. W@W reinforces your child’s language skills and provides a strong foundation for their academic success, keeping up with all aspects of their progress both inside and outside of the classroom to nurture them holistically. For more information about how W@W makes a difference, feel free to explore our website and watch our YouTube videos!
If you are interested in our primary English tuition and secondary English tuition in Singapore, WRITERS@WORK has expanded to 9 convenient locations. To find the nearest location that suits your needs, please explore our options. If you have any inquiries regarding our range of programs or class schedules, please feel free to contact WRITERS@WORK!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
1. What is Creative Writing in Primary School?
In primary school, creative writing starts from using pictures to develop a coherent storyline. Students will learn how to use key phrases to build tension and develop a satisfying conclusion. The plots of the stories crafted at the primary school level are usually simple and have a central conflict which is usually resolved at the end of the story. Students will need to use good grammar and appropriate vocabulary to describe the things they see in the pictures when writing.
2. What is an Enrichment Class in English?
An enrichment class allows your child to not only learn the basics of the mechanics of English such as good grammar and sentence structure, but it also teaches your child to appreciate the nuances of the English language. Students in an English enrichment class will learn skills like inference and critical reading – these skills are highly important even when students graduate out of school and go into higher education or the working world, as it will teach them to process and filter information to determine what is being said and evaluate the veracity of the information.
3. What Does a Writing Specialist Teach?
A writing specialist teaches your child how to formulate sentences in a logical manner. Writing has various contexts, and if the assignment is a narrative essay, there are certain requirements such as a well thought-out plot, fleshed-out characters, and a good denouement. There are other types of essays a student will learn in his lifetime, such as an argumentative essay, expository essay, and descriptive writing, which all require different skill sets learned during class.
4. How Does My Child Benefit From Writing Classes?
Writing classes build systematic thinking and logic in children. Crafting a story plot is the same as thinking, step by step, what events chronologically happen in the context of a given scenario. Students will be able to express their ideas and thought processes in a coherent and concise manner, which will help them in their other subjects as they will be able to formulate sentences to better understand the material. English proficiency is a highly transferable skill.
