Editing is the final step in your writing process. After you have completed a draft and revised the ideas and organization, it is time to look at the smaller details of the essay. Editing involves looking at the sentences closely to make sure that there are as few grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes as possible.
It helps to use a checklist when editing your essays. Below is a checklist of the major grammar points that have been covered in the previous units. You know what some of your most common grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes are, so it is a good idea to add those to your editing checklist as well.
| Grammar Point | Yes/No | |
| Auxiliary Verbs | Do I use be, do, and have correctly? (continuous, passive, questions, negatives, perfect) | |
| Present Simple | Did I remember to use -s for he/she/it? | |
| Passive Voice | Does my use of the passive emphasize the topic? Did I remember to use the be verb + past participle? |
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| Expressions of Quantity | Do my expressions of quantity like a lot of, many, few, and all match my nouns? Do my expressions of quantity make generalizations that aren’t true? |
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| Adjectives | Do I use -er/more for comparing two things? Did I remember than? Do I use -est/most for describing one thing out of a group? Did I remember the? |
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| Modal Verbs | Do I use should for advice? Do I use must for strong advice or duty? Do I use will for highly probable situations? Do I use would for imaginary or unreal situations? Do any of my modal verbs have endings? |
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Editing also means checking the format of the essay to make sure it follows all of the rules for spacing, indenting, font size, etc. In America, most colleges and universities use the Modern Language Association, or MLA formating guidelines for essays. Here are the basic guidelines:
- The entire essay should be Times New Roman font, size 12
- The entire essay should be double-spaced, with no extra spaces between the paragraphs
- Type your heading in the upper left corner of the document. (The heading includes your name, the teacher's name, the course name, and the date)
- Hit enter and center and type the title. Do not use bold or italics. Capitalize the important words.
- The beginning of each paragraph should be tabbed.
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