Here are 5 steps that you can walk your student through to show him how to self edit his paper.
1. Check the basics. Each sentence must have 5 things in order to be a sentence. If a sentence does not have all five of these items, then it is not a sentence.
- Capital letter
- End mark
- Subject
- Verb
- A complete thought
2. Spelling. Get out a dictionary. Use an older sibling. Better yet, learn to type and use spell check. Do what you need to do to confirm that each word is spelled correctly.
3. Verbs. Verbs are the heart of a sentence. Pay attention to them. If every other sentence utilizes the “to be” verb, then your paper needs some help. Strong verbs are essential to a well written paper.
4. Sentence diversity. “Dick runs. Sally jumps. Dick and Sally jump.” While readers may teach our children how to read, they certainly do not teach them how to write. If we teach our children how to vary their sentences, then their writing will be much more engaging. Add some subordinate clauses to basic sentences. “Where Dick runs, Sally jumps.” Add some phrases as sentence openers so that each sentence doesn’t start with the subject.
5. Adjectives. Students love adjectives. Once they are introduced to great words like monstrous, humongous, and impeccable, they love to use them, and use them, and use them. The problem is too many adjectives can create redundancy and take away from the true meaning of the sentence. Teach your student to choose his adjectives carefully. Why did he choose that adjective? Does it create clarity or vagueness?
By mastering these 5 steps, any student can self-edit an essay before presenting it to another person for additional editing help. Take a week to focus on introducing each task and ensure that your student understands how to advance with self-editing. Like every other great task list, the list is only as good as the knowledge of the person to utilize the tools.
If, like many of us, you find it nearly impossible to add one more thing to your list, even if it will help in the future, then Scio Academy has you covered. Our self-editing video series launches on December 10th. As always, this course series is available to all Scio Academy members at no additional cost!