REVISING YOUR WRITTEN MESSAGE

Revision means, literally, to re-see. Which, of course, implies that you need to re-examine and re-work your message until it is satisfactory. Remember, you can go back to the "planning" strategies anytime you need them, and you may find that a number of the strategies described below could also help you to get started. To be effective, you need to be proactive: apply the strategies in writing. This activates your brain and produces concrete results!

Try any or all of these strategies to help you develop and structure your writing-in-progress:

Drafting: We're all familiar with writing a draft. Just be sure to exploit a variety of other strategies in between and along with drafting. Many inexperienced writers produce only one draft and do nothing else. A piece of writing needs to be "coaxed" through the process from beginning to end. Early drafts are usually freewritten, becoming more formlized as revision progresses. Expect to have a number of drafts for most writing tasks. And be sure you never try to pass off a draft as a finished product!

Number your drafts and save them in your document folder. You may need to refer to them later. If you work primarily on a word processor, print a hard copy draft after you've made significant changes. There are times when you'll find you want to use parts of an earlier version.

Information Tree: My personal favourite. I often use this to start a document and I certainly depend on it to get me through to the end. The tree is simply a hierarchical, visual representation of the main ideas in a piece of writing. It's not unlike a linear outline, but it has the great advantage of letting you see and judge an entire body of information at a glance. It's very effective in establishing a structure and judging content. Because of its graphic nature, it also allows you to quickly see the relationship among your ideas very clearly. You can play around with the tree until you are satisfied with the structure of your ideas. And it's easy to judge where information is missing or repeated unnecessarily. Expect to create many trees during the evolution of a document as you rearrange, prune, and graft information. You might also consider it to be like a skeleton or road map. To me, the tree is the key to coherence, completeness, and conciseness. Click here for an example of an information tree.

Your tree can be transformed easily into a linear structure for use as a Table of Contents. Consider how many levels you need to include in the Table of Contents, develop your tree to that level, and rearrange linearly.

Analogy: An analogy is simply a comparison between two objects or concepts. Analogies help to simplify the complex, and/or make the abstract concrete. Writers often find it useful to think of analogies within their subject in order to understand it better and develop ideas. Readers often find analogies a very useful way to have a point clarified for them. For example, when I likened the information tree ( preceding strategy) to a skeleton or a road map, I was trying to help you understand the concept. You might try to help a young child understand an airplane by comparing it to a bird. How is life like a journey? Try to brainstorm some analogies that apply to your topic. Would any of them be helpful to your reader(s)? Analogic thinking is a powerful way to understand difficult concepts.

Peer Feedback: There's no question that experienced writers are in the habit of getting feedback on a piece of writing as it evolves. Classmates, teachers, relatives, friends, (even enemies) are all candidates for this strategy. To maximize effectiveness, try to ask specific questions about your writing that concern you. For example: Would you know what to do after reading this? Does my tone sound too aggressive? Does my introduction grab your interest? Is there enough (too much) information for my purpose/audience? Etc. Specific questions usually result in concrete feedback. Don't forget to take notes for later reference.

Two important caveats: Never expect a peer to rewrite your document for you (if you get significant ideas from someone else, acknowledge them). Never feel obliged to act on feedback; you make the final decision on your writing.

Role Play: Read your document through while actively pretending that you are the intended reader.

Nutshell: State the "nutshell" of your document in 25 words or less. This can help you to refocus, revise your purpose, and compose the introduction and conclusion.

Satisfice: This word is a combination of "satisfy" and "suffice." You satisfice when you accept words/sentences that are less than perfect, for the moment, in order to keep the flow of thought going.

I often insert xxxxx's when I can't get the right word or phrase. It's amazing how the perfect "bon mot" often pops up in a subsequent revision. Or you can work with your thesaurus or dictionary later on.

WIRMI: Is an acronym for What I Really Mean Is.... If you are struggling with putting a concept into words, take a separate sheet of paper and write "what I really mean is..." at the top. Then, go on to write the concept in the simplest terms possible - as if you were explaining it to a child. Once you've got the meaning down, you can go back and reword it for style.

Shared Conventions: Find out if there are any particular ways of doing things in your business culture that will impact on how you develop or present this piece of writing. If you know them from the start, they can often help you to structure your information. Just be careful not to let conventions inhibit your ability to come up with creative new ideas!

Question/Answer: Brainstorm a list of questions your readers might have about your topic, then jot down the possible answers you might give.

BLOT/BLOB: BLOT means Bottom Line On Top which implies that your message will be structured according to the "direct approach" with your purpose revealed at the outset ( See Chapters 8 & 9 in your text). BLOB means Bottom Line On Bottom which implies that your message will be structured according to the "indirect approach" with your purpose revealed incrementally or near the end of your message (See Chapters 10 & 11 in your text). Ask yourself which overall structure is appropriate for your writing task. This will help you revise your message accordingly.

The "indirect approach" is often more difficult to achieve. Even experienced writers sometimes find they have to draft the message using the "direct approach" first and then rework it into an indirect structure.

Tools of the Trade: Whether they're part of your word processing software, or dog-earred volumes of hard copy, no writer can function effectively without a dictionary, thesaurus, and writer's reference. For an online library of writer's tools, check out My Virtual Library.

Online Help:

A complete Writer's Guide is available from the University of Victoria.

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University is one of the most extensive online writers' resources.

The National Writing Centre operated by the National Council for Teachers of English is a very comprehensive writing resource that addresses all stages of the writing process in a variety of environments.

11 Ways to Improve Your Writing and Your Business contains tips from a group of business writing consultants.

"Global" and "Local" Revision strategies can be obtained at this site.

Back to Planning (many of the planning strategies also help with revising)

Carry on to Editing

Main Strategies Page

Home