8.4 Revising and Editing
Creating Unity and Coherence
Following your outline closely offers a reasonable guarantee that your writing will stay on purpose and not drift away from the controlling idea. However, when writers are rushed, tired, or cannot find the right words, their writing may become less than it wants. Their writing may no longer be clear and concise, and they may be adding information that is not needed to develop the main idea.
When a piece of writing has unity, all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay belong and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense. When the writing has coherence, the ideas flow smoothly. The wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and from paragraph to paragraph.
TipReading your writing aloud will often help you find problems with unity and coherence. Listen for the clarity and flow of your ideas. Identify where you find yourself confused, and write a note about possible fixes. |
Creating Unity
Sometimes writers get caught up in the moment and cannot resist a good digression. Even though you might enjoy such detours when you chat with friends, unplanned digressions usually harm a piece of writing.
TipWhen you reread your writing to find revisions to make, look for each type of problem in a separate sweep. Read it straight through once to locate any problems with unity. Read it straight through a second time to find problems with coherence. You may follow this same practice during many stages of the writing process. |
