Revision is the stage in the writing process

Writing process

The Writing process is both a key concept in the teaching of writing and an important research concept in the field of composition studies.Research on the writing process focuses on how writers draft, revise, and edit texts...

 where the author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 reviews, alters, and amends her or his message, according to what has been written in the draft

Draft document

Drafting is the preliminary stage of a written work in which the author begins to develop a more cohesive product. A also describes the product the writer creates in the initial stages of the writing process.In the drafting stage, the author:...

. Revision follows drafting and precedes editing

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

. Drafting and revising often form a loop as a work moves back and forth between the two stages. It is not uncommon for professional writers to go through many drafts and revisions before successfully creating an essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

 that is ready for the next stage: editing.

In their seminal book, The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style , also known as Strunk & White, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, is a prescriptive American English writing style guide comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of forty-nine "words and...

, William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White acknowledge the need for revision in the writing process: “Few writers are so expert that they can produce what they are after on the first try. Quite often you will discover, on examining the completed work, that there are serious flaws in the arrangement of the material, calling for transposition

Transposition

Transposition may refer to:Mathematics* Transposition , a permutation which exchanges two elements and keeps all others fixed* Transposition, producing the transpose of a matrix AT, which is computed by swapping columns for rows in the matrix AGames* Transposition , different moves or a different...

s... do not be afraid to experiment with your text.”

Successful revision involves:

Identification of thesis. The purpose of the essay should be re-considered based on what has been written in the draft. If this purpose differs from the original thesis

Thesis

A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...

, the author must decide from which thesis to continue writing.

Consideration of structure. The author should identify the strengths of the draft, then re-consider the order of those strengths, adjusting their placement as necessary so the work can build with auxesis

Auxesis (figure of speech)

In rhetoric, auxesis is a form of hyperbole that intentionally overstates something or implies that it is greater in significance or size than it really is. Auxesis is the opposite of meiosis....

 to a crescendo

Crescendo

-In music:*Crescendo, a passage of music during which the volume gradually increases, see Dynamics * Crescendo , a Liverpool-based electronic pop band* "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", one of Duke Ellington's longer-form compositions...

.

Uncovering weakness in argument or presentation. Once the strengths of the draft have been identified and placed in the strongest order, the author can re-examine the work for weaknesses in argument or presentation. Faulty logic

Logic

In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...

, missing transitions

Transition words

Transitions, transition words, or transitional expressions, et cetera, are certain words, expressions, or other devices that give text or speech greater cohesion by making it more explicit, or signaling, how ideas are meant by the writer or speaker to relate to one another...

, and unsupported or poorly supported assertions are common weaknesses. Identifying these weaknesses during revision will inform the next draft.

Successful revision is not improving grammar

Grammar

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...

 or diction

Diction

Diction , in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story...

. Those will be the focus of later editing.