• 3-minute read
• 12th April 2016

How Redrafting Can Improve the Quality of Your Writing

Whether you’re working on an essay, a novel or even just a formal e-mail, the redrafting process is essential to ensuring the quality of your writing.

Why? No self-respecting writer would try to pass off a first draft as the final version of a document; sitting down and typing is just the first step in a journey that includes editing and rewriting to make certain you communicate your ideas as clearly as possible.

Failure to edit thoroughly can lead to ridicule in the popular press, or (more importantly) losing out on marks for your essays. So make sure you use redrafting to your advantage.

Stage 1: The First Draft

Writing the first draft is largely a case of translating your notes and essay plan into paragraphs. This is where you will set out the basic argument and structure of your essay.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t get everything perfect first time; that’s why we redraft! You’ll find it becomes easier to fill in gaps once you know how the essay reads as a whole (you could even ask a friend or supervisor for some initial feedback).

Stage 2: The Second Draft

The second draft is where things get serious. First of all, read back through everything looking for aspects of the essay you could improve. As well as factual, grammatical or spelling errors, consider how clearly your argument reads.

Other factors to consider include:

• Concision – Brevity is usually desirable in academic writing, so try to cut unnecessary repetition.
• Structure – Each paragraph should flow smoothly into the next, as otherwise your argument will be difficult to follow.
• Relevance – Everything in your essay should contribute something to your argument. If something isn’t directly relevant, consider whether it needs to be there.
• Formatting – The way you present your work also affects readability, so look out for inconsistent formatting or other issues of clarity.

Stage 3: More Redrafting

If you’re happy with your work after redrafting, well done, but with longer pieces of writing you may need to repeat the process a few times. Saving a new version of your document each time is a good idea, as then you can check older drafts if required.

Each redraft should require less work, which eventually leads us to…

Stage 4: The Finished Product!

By this point you should be getting close to a final draft and any changes you make should be minor. Getting your work proofread is a good idea, as after a while it becomes difficult to spot errors in your own work.

Once this is done, you can happily print out your essay/contact your publisher/send the e-mail, safe in the knowledge of a job well done.