Writing Process and Revision
Domain 3 tests your ability to improve prose rather than merely correct it. You will be asked how a draft should be revised for clarity, concision, tone, and logical development, and you must distinguish revision from editing. Revision reshapes content and organization; editing polishes grammar, punctuation, and spelling; proofreading is the final check.
Revision priorities
- Match the draft to purpose, audience, and register. A letter to a parent, a lab report, and an editorial demand different levels of formality and different kinds of evidence.
- Cut wordiness: redundant pairs (each and every), expletive openings (There are many people who believe), nominalizations (make a decision becomes decide), and empty intensifiers (very, really, basically).
- Prefer active voice when the actor matters and is known: The committee rejected the proposal, not The proposal was rejected.
- Replace vague words with specific ones: a significant increase becomes a 12 percent increase over one quarter.
Worked example
Original: Due to the fact that the committee was unable to reach a consensus, a decision was postponed by them. Reasoning: Due to the fact that is wordy; unable to reach a consensus can be cannot agree; the passive clause hides the actor already named. Revision: Because the committee could not agree, it postponed the decision.
Traps
- Calling a change in wording an improvement when it alters the original meaning or drops necessary qualification.
- Adding transitions without repairing the underlying gap in logic.
- Leaving dangling modifiers after trimming: After reviewing the data, the conclusion was revised wrongly suggests the conclusion reviewed the data.
- Trusting spelling and grammar checkers to catch wrong-word errors such as affect and effect.
- Rewriting a sentence that is already clear, concise, and correct.