Revising Writing
Basics on the topic Revising Writing
Do you want to know how to make your writing better before submitting it? Learn about strategies for revising your writing through our video, activities, and revising practice worksheets!
Revising your Writing – Introduction
Revising, editing, and proofreading are stages of writing that happen after you write your first draft. Today we will talk about revising.
During the revising phase of the writing strategy we add more words, phrases, transitions, details, and information. We can also remove some words or phrases or replace them with more suitable ones.
Revising a paper or an essay helps your writing to be more engaging for the reader.
Revising Writing – Process
You might be wondering: which strategy is recommended to make revising easier? To remember, what you should do when revising your writing, you can use the acronym ARMS. ARMS stands for add, remove, move, and substitute. You can use ARMS as a revising checklist when revising your next essay.
Let’s have a look at each of the ARMS components in detail using examples of revising a paragraph.
When revising a paragraph, the first thing writers focus on, is adding more words, phrases, transitions, details, and information, to make sure the writing is coherent and provides enough details on the topic. To practice, read this paragraph and think what we can add to it:
Many people spend too much time on their phones. This can cause sleep problems. Many children spend more than 5 hours a day looking at the phone screen before bed.
Let’s add more details to this paragraph, to make sure the topic is properly covered. We can also add reasons to explain why spending too much time on your phone can cause problems.
Many people spend too much time on their phones and other electronic devices. When we use phones right before bedtime, it can cause sleep problems. Many children spend more than 5 hours a day looking at the phone screen. Bright light from the screen sends a signal to our brain that it is still daytime and we don’t need to sleep.
During the revising stage of writing, we also need to remove anything that is not useful, or that is repetitive. In the paragraph above, the word phone is repeated three times, so we can remove one.
Many people spend too much time on their phones and other electronic devices. When we use phones right before bedtime, it can cause sleep problems. Many children spend more than 5 hours a day looking at the screen. Bright light from the screen sends a signal to our brain that it is still daytime, and we don’t need to sleep.
Now we can move anything that might make a paragraph flow better. In the example paragraph, we need to move sentences that talk about sleep together:
Many people spend too much time on their phones and other electronic devices. Many children spend more than 5 hours a day looking at the screen. When we use phones right before bedtime, it can cause sleep problems. Bright light from the screen sends a signal to our brain that it is still daytime and we don’t need to sleep.
Finally, writers look for things to substitute. This means that a writer should replace repeated words with synonyms. We will need to replace the words many and spend. Sometimes, we need to rewrite sentences when adding synonyms to make them flow better.
Many people spend too much time on their phones and other electronic devices. It is common for children to have more than 5 hours of screen time per day. When we use phones right before bedtime, it can cause sleep problems. Bright light from the screen sends a signal to our brain that it is still daytime and we don’t need to sleep.
It can be useful to read your essay out loud when revising it, because it helps you notice mistakes and repeated words.
Additional Information about Revising Writing
Here are some more tips for revising writing:
- When revising an informative essay, it is important to consider the proper amount of details, evidence, and examples.
- When revising a body paragraph for style in an informative essay, you need to make sure the information is easy to understand for the reader.
- When revising a narrative essay the writer should include details like who, what, where, when, and how, to make the story more exciting.
- While revising an argumentative essay, a writer should include enough evidence to base their argument on.
- When revising for form, a writer focuses on the structure of an essay.
- When revising the overall structure of your essay, you should make sure it has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
Revising Writing – Summary
During the revising stage in the writing process, the author adds more details, words, phrases, information, and sometimes removes things. The acronym ARMS helps us to remember what we should look for while revising. First, we should add details or information. Then, we can remove words that are not useful. Next, we move sentences to make the text flow better. And finally, we substitute words or phrases for better ones.
| A | R | M | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add more details. | Remove words that are not useful. |
Move sentences to make the text flow better. |
Substitute words or phrases for better ones. |
Now you know which steps to follow when revising your written work. Need more practice? Watch our video and try our activities and worksheets!
If you want to know more about the difference between revising and editing, you can check out our revising and editing video and revising and editing online practice worksheets for the 4th grade.
Frequently Asked Questions about Revising Writing
Transcript Revising Writing
Ah, it's another day in the office for the intern, Benji! He's almost ready to publish his first article, but it needs a little more work. To make his writing stronger, Benji needs help with revising writing. When we talk about revising our writing, we are simply adding more words, phrases, transitions, details, information, and sometimes removing things. This helps makes your writing stronger, and more engaging for the reader. Arms can help you when revising your writing! No Benji, not arms like that! We are talking about the accronym, arms! Arms helps with revising writing, where we add more words, phrases, transitions, details, or information, remove words, phrases, or information that aren't useful, move sentences or words, and substitute words or phrases for better ones. Here is one paragraph of Benji's writing; let's use arms and see how we can revise it! So far, Benji has typed, mindfulness is calming. It helps you focus. It also helps balance your hormones. It also helps you to identify your feelings. There are lots of reasons why it calms you! Let's start with things we can add. We see a lot of short sentences, which means Benji hasn't added many details, so we can add a transition word, because, after calming, and then give detail for why mindfulness is important. We also see Benji hasn't given reasons why these things are important, so we can also add a reason. Let's add identifying your feelings makes you a more self-aware person here, so the reader will know why it's important. Now let's look at what we can remove, and remove anything that is not useful, or is repetitive. Can you see anything we could remove? The word also is repeated twice in the paragraph so let's remove this one here. Now, let's move anything that might make the paragraph flow better. Sometimes it helps to move sentences. Since focus and feelings are more closely connected than hormones, we should move this sentence, and switch this sentence with this one! Finally, let's look at words or phrases we can substitute. We often want to swap repeated words for synonyms. Can you find a word we might want to swap in the paragraph? Help is repeated a lot, so let's swap some instances of help with synonyms! Let's swap this help for assists, and this help for aids with the balance of. Sometimes, you need to rewrite sentences when adding synonyms to make them flow better. Well, it looks like Benji is well on his way with his revising, so let's review! Remember, when revising writing, we are simply adding more details, words, phrase, information, and sometimes removing things. To revise writing, add more words, phrases, transitions, details, or information, remove words, phrases, or information that aren't useful, move sentences or words, and substitute words or phrases for better ones. The acronym arms can help you remember the steps for revising. "ahem!" "Not yet, Benji!" "Oh, you eager pup! We still need to edit this."
Revising Writing exercise
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Define the acronym ARMS.
HintsThe choice for R should be the opposite of the choice for A.
We can reorder words or sentences to improve our writing. This is what the M stands for.
SolutionAdd more words, phrases, transitions, details, or information.
Remove phrases, information, or words that are not useful.
Move sentences or words.
Substitute words or phrases. -
Substitute new words.
HintsIt is a good idea to replace words that repeat too many times with synonyms. A synonym is a word that means exactly or almost the same as the first word.
One of the choices should be the original word.
SolutionIt is a good idea to replace words that repeat too many times with synonyms. In the original text, the word helps is repeated 3 times, so it is good to substitute this with synonyms, such as aids and assists.
- Mindfulness is calming because it helps you focus. It also aids with the balance of your hormones. It assists you to identify your feelings. Identifying your feelings makes you a more self-aware person. There are a lot of reasons why it calms you!
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Remove unnecessary words.
HintsYou should remove anything that is not useful, or repetitive. Do you see any words that repeat too many times?
There are three words that should be removed.
SolutionThe word 'always' has been removed from the third and fourth sentences. The word 'very' has been removed from the second sentence. These words were repeated too many times in the original text and were not needed.
Good nutrition is very important! Doctors have always known that the human body cannot function properly without the healthy fuel it needs. I know myself, after a birthday party where I’ve eaten too much junk food and soda, I definitely will have a stomach ache. Make it a point to eat your fruits and veggies, your body will thank you for it!
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Add additonal text.
HintsThink of what makes amazing weather. Is unbearably hot or freezing cold pleasant in summer or winter?
What is a more dramatic way of saying something is very beautiful?
What are some descriptions you can add about things to do in the cities of Florence and Siena?
The Uffizi gallery is located in Florence, and the Duomo di Siena cathedral is located in Siena.
SolutionThe text in bold shows the added details.
Tuscany is a region in central Italy. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The weather is fantastic, sunny and hot in the summer and mild in the winter. There is a ton of history and art, and the food is delicious. There are many places to visit in Tuscany. You can start by going to Florence and see amazing art at the Uffizi Gallery. After that, you can head south towards Siena and visit the cathedral (Duomo di Siena).
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Remove unnecessary words.
HintsYou should remove anything that is not useful, or repetitive. Do you see any words that repeat?
Only one word should be removed.
SolutionThe word also has been removed from the second sentence. The word also was repeated twice in two sentences and was not needed both times.
Mindfulness is calming because it helps you focus. It helps balance your hormones. It also helps you to identify your feelings. Identifying your feelings makes you a more self-aware person. There are lots of reasons why it calms you!
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Substitute new words.
HintsIt is better to use higher-level words than really or very when possible. Do you see anywhere where really or very can be replaced?
It is a good idea to replace words that repeat too many times with synonyms. Do you see any words that repeat a lot?
Since the topic of this text is very dramatic, it is better to use strong language.
Solution- It is better to use higher-level words than really or very when possible. These words were replaced with a better fit.
- Words that were repeated too many times were also replaced with synonyms.
- Since the topic of this text is very dramatic, stronger language (best vs. sometimes, tremendous vs. really big) was used when possible.
Understanding tornadoes is important! Tornadoes are one of nature’s most powerful forces, capable of causing tremendous destruction in a matter of minutes. From their formation process to their destructive power, let's explore the science behind these awe-inspiring phenomena. We will also explain tips for how you can best protect yourself.
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