The Writing Process (Continued)
Editing and Proofreading
Stephen King calls this part of writing "Open Door Writing" because this is the time when you need to worry what your audience thinks. This is the writing stage that many young writers skip. They think that if they've spent hours revising, then it's already edited and proofread. This is not always the case. Many professional writers have editors to do this for them; however, you do not have this luxury—you have to do it yourself. What's worse is that you're also graded on it! It hardly seems fair, but that's life. In writing, we all must learn how to make our sentences more understandable and readable in addition to looking out for the correct punctuation and verb tense. You may be good at putting an essay together and having a logical argument, which is part of writing; however, if your reader cannot understand your sentences, then that wonderful organization will not make much of a difference.
In this step, worry about grammar, comma rules, using the correct word, etc. When I edit (for myself and for others), I generally make a list of things to look for (e.g. commas, using "you" or other second person pronouns, proper citation), and then I read the essay for each item, checking that item off as I correct it for those things. This means I read the piece several times, and you should too. To save time, people generally try to worry about this in the first stage, but it can get in the way and interfere with your ideas. Save this step for last! But remember, last does not mean least! Save time for this step!