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Revising to Enhance Readability

Anything that you write is designed to be read. That is its first and foremost purpose. Thus, increasing readability means increasing the functionality of your document in terms of both content and document design, thereby making it “user friendly.” If your document is difficult to read because the vocabulary, sentence structure, paragraphing, organization, or formatting is unclear, your reader will likely stop reading.

The revision checklist in Table 7 below offers a step-by-step process for revising your document to achieve a readable style. The table below incorporates key design elements discussed throughout this book. Implementing this checklist means doing several “passes” or individual reviews over your document, looking at different aspects each time. Typically, you will start with higher-order concerns and progress to smaller, more detail-oriented issues. For example, in your “first pass,” review the entire document for structural elements such as overall formatting, content requirements, organizational patterns, and coherent flow of information. Once you have addressed these concerns, your “second pass” might focus on your use of topic sentences and individual paragraph organization. The checklist below is intended as a brief overview of things to watch for, but the items in the list are not all of equal importance, and some items needing revision may become apparent during multiple steps in the process. The information in the later “Revision Techniques” section of this chapter will help you identify concepts across the spectrum of structure-level revision and sentence-level editing that you should keep in mind.

Table 7: Revision Checklist
Revision Checklist
First Pass:

Document-level review (structural-level revision)
  • Review specifications to ensure that you have included all required content.
  • Make sure your title, headings, subheadings, and table/figure labels are clear and descriptive. Headings should clearly and efficiently indicate the content of that section; figure and table captions should clearly describe the content of the visual.
  • Make sure ideas flow in a logical order and explanations come in a timely manner.
  • Make sure each paragraph begins with a topic sentence that previews and/or summarizes the content to come.
  • Add/use coherent transitions to link one point logically to the next.
  • Review placement and purpose of any visuals such as tables, illustrations, or artistic elements.
Second Pass:

Paragraph-level review (mid-level revision and editing)
  • Cut unnecessary or irrelevant information for your intended audience.
  • Make sure you are using an appropriate tone (neutral, objective, constructive, formal).
  • Locate and define key terms relative to your audience: experts can tolerate complex information with a lot of terminology; general readers require simpler, less detailed descriptions/explanations.
  • Review and revise any overly long or short paragraphs (5-10 lines long is a reasonable guideline).
Third Pass:

Sentence-level review (sentence-level editing, part 1)
  • Review sentence length. Consider revising sentences longer than 25 words. Vay the length and structure of sentences.
  • Examine ratio of verbs to number of words per sentence. Generally, the higher ration of verbs to total words in the sentence, the stronger the sentence.
  • Identify and replace vague, passive verbs and forms of “to be” (is/are/was/were/being) where feasible.
  • Replace verbs such as “make,” “do,” “have,” and “get” that have multiple possible meanings with more precise wording.
  • Examine and clarify any vague Actor/Action (or Subject-Verb) relationships.
  • In general, keep the subject and the verb close together, and keep the verb near the beginning of the sentence.
Fourth Pass:

Word-level review (sentence-level editing, part 2)
  • Replace abstract, generalizing, and vague terms with concrete, specific, and precise words.
  • Remove filler phrases and unnecessary emphasizers.
  • Use a single word instead of a phrase whenever possible.
  • Remove and revise cliches, colloquial expressions, and slang.
  • Review second person (“you”) pronouns; remove unless you have a strong reason for keep them.
  • Replace any “ad speak” with objective, measurable descriptors.

If your document incorporates sources, you will want to do an additional “pass” to make sure that all sources are cited properly and that they all appear in your list of References or Works Cited at the end of the document. You also should make sure all sources in your list of References or Works Cited are used and appropriately cited/referenced within the body text. See Chapter 7 for more information on evaluating and citing sources.

When you look at all the many ways you can review (look for potential problems) and then revise (fix those problems), you might think they’re tedious and time-consuming. Revisions do take time, but the results are worth it. If you analyze writing in the ways outlined in this chapter, the way you write and the way you review what you write will change.

The next sections cover three major areas to focus on when reviewing your work: structure- level revisions, mid-level revisions and editing, and sentence-level editing.

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