A.R.M.S. Revision Process for Computing for College and Careers course
Add words, phrases or more information to help make your points clear and easy for the reader to understand. Add transition words, phrases or sentences to tie your thoughts and paragraphs together. Be sure to use quotes when necessary and reference primary or secondary content resources and avoid community-based forums like Wikipedia or Ask Yahoo.
Remove words that repeat themselves and information that does not relate to the main idea of your paragraph or to the topic of the composition.
Move around words, phrases, sentences or even whole paragraphs in order to keep your ideas clear and flowing toward a logical conclusion.
Substitute words with more exact words or phrases that express what you want to say more clearly. This includes avoiding vague words and substituting contractions with the complete word or phrase, e.g. can't should be cannot and we're should be we are.
Once you have made all of your revisions, and written your second draft, put your essay aside for a few hours or a day. Then go back and use the proof-reading/editing checklist above to look for and correct errors in spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and usage.
Based on Source: Dr. B's Online Lesson Resources (http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/ocean/index.htm. Retrieved 12/9/09. )
Also, be sure to utilize the common proofreader's marks stored in the OCI Handbook.
Make all of your revisions on your first draft; then write your second draft. (Use the revision checklist below to help you review your work.) Enter an X in each space after you have completed the task
Revision Checklist
_____ 1. Have you written an introduction? Do you have a statement to be proven or a question to be answered?
_____ 2. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence, supporting concrete details, examples and comments?
_____ 3. Do the supporting details and comments of each paragraph serve to prove the topic sentence or answer the question posed?
_____ 4. Are the ideas stated clearly?
_____ 5. Are your sentences varied? (See that the same words and phrases are not repeated over and over again.)
_____ 6. Is your point of view clear?
_____7. Does each paragraph relate to the main topic as stated in your introduction?
_____ 8. Do you have good transitioning sentences that lead the reader from one paragraph into the next?
_____ 9. Have you written a conclusion?
_____10. Does your conclusion answer the question, "So What?" (in other words - "Why is it important? and "What must we do about it?")
_____11. Have you avoided casual and vague language such as contractions, a lot, many, some, etc?
_____12. Have you used all the required OCI Handbook (when applicable) formatting such as line spacing, margins, etc?