4.7: Revising Your Writing

Once your ideas are down on paper, it’s time to move to Stage 3: Revising. In this stage, you will refine the presentation of your ideas. The idea is to make sure your writing doesn’t get in the way of the reader’s comprehension of your message. No matter how good your first draft appears, you should spend time revising it!

Revising has two elements. Usually, people are strong in one element and may struggle a bit with the other element. When deciding where to start your revisions, think about how you would answer the following questions:

• Do you work more effectively if you first tackle difficult tasks and then move on to tasks that are more “in your wheelhouse?” Or does it work better for you to build confidence with tasks that come naturally to you before moving on to challenging tasks?
• Are you detail-oriented or big-picture-oriented?

Regardless of how you answered those questions, be sure to spend quality time in both elements of revision: (1) Micro-editing (making sure the details are correct) and (2) Macro-editing (making sure the document “as a whole” is correct). Here, we will look at the two components involved in proofreading and learn some tips on how to put the final “polish” on our product.

Micro-Editing

Detail-oriented people typically experience micro-editing as a strength. It’s like putting the final touches on your home construction project. This part of the project is a combination of artistry and skill. You need to catch all the mistakes!

• Check for all components of clear writing (punctuation, capitalization, numbers, time, spelling, and grammar).
• Review word choices and eliminate unnecessary words; make sure the words are appropriate to your tone and audience.
• Look for typographical errors in dates, measures, and names.
• Check all details for accuracy.
• Run spell-checker – carefully and slowly
• Run “dumb-checker” – there is no substitute for human eyes and brains.
• Check citations. Here are some tips for effective citation-checking:

1. Mark all citations: Use a highlighter, red pen, or other method
2. Ask your supervisor for specifics: Where is this document going to be filed/used? Does your supervisor or the judge prefer underlining or italics?
3. Know the Rules: Familiarity with The Bluebook and local court rules is key. For local court rules, ask a law librarian or the clerk of courts, or check the court’s home page on the Internet.
4. Document your corrections: Write down the page number of The Bluebook that supports your corrections.
5. Develop a system to track the citations you have corrected, in case you are interrupted during your cite-checking process.
6. Focus on the task at hand: Don’t attempt to proofread for spelling, grammar or other items while cite-checking. If you notice a problem, highlight it for correction at a later time.
7. Be thorough: Check all citations in the document, not just those appearing in the argument or discussion section.
8. Be consistent: Make sure titles and signals (such as supra, id., see) are always either underlined or italicized (not both). Make sure abbreviations are consistent.

Among other things, legal writing is characterized by the need for

• Precision/clarity – words matter! To many of us, the word “drinking” in certain contexts means consuming alcohol (Were you drinking prior to the accident?). However, a person can also drink juice, coffee, water, and other things, so the word “drinking” by itself is imprecise.
• Correct punctuation – misplaced commas can change meaning! There’s a big difference in the meaning of “Let’s eat, Grandma!” and “Let’s eat Grandma!”
• Accuracy – make sure your sentence says exactly what you mean it to say.
• Conciseness – believe it or not, some types of legal documents have word limits. Also, your reader is much more likely to understand and/or be persuaded by sentences, arguments and documents that are not unnecessarily wordy. More is not always better

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Read more about concise legal writing here (opens in new window)

Macro-Editing

Big-picture-oriented people typically experience macro-editing as a strength. It involves looking at the “big picture” to make sure you’ve used the proper tone, that your document is logically organized with smooth transitions between ideas and paragraphs, that it contains all legally required components, and that it is internally consistent. It’s like the “final walk through” in your construction project, when you ensure everything was built to specifications and the whole project and its components are consistent and work well together.

• Check for effective sentence structure.
  • Are the sentences clear and easy to read?
  • Are the sentences neither too long nor too short?
• Check for smooth transitions.
  • Do you effectively signal the reader when you are changing topics?
  • Is it clear how sentences, paragraphs, and topics relate to one another?
  • Is the document as a whole easy to read? Does it flow well?
• Make sure the document’s tone matches its purpose and audience.
• Use professional writing at all times
  • Avoid informal words, contractions, slang, and colloquialisms.
  • Don’t “personalize” your writing with phrases such as “I believe” or otherwise using the first person “I.”
  • Don’t use exclamation marks, all caps, or a lot of boldfacing.
  • Your writing should never be sarcastic, hostile, or condescending.
• Review organization. Is it logical? Does the ordering of topics make sense?
• Check for internal consistency throughout the document.
  • Does the document, as a whole, make sense?
  • Later parts of the document should not conflict with earlier parts of the document.
• Make sure the document is complete.
  • Does it have all of the required components?
  • Did you include all of the important facts and legal provisions?

Revision may seem like a tedious waste of time, but it is one of the most important steps in preparing a well-written document. The tricky thing about revising is that it’s very difficult to catch errors in your own work. Your brain knows what is supposed to be there, and it will “fill the gaps” with missing words and unclear meaning. To combat this, set your document aside for a few hours before doing your micro- and macro-editing.

After you have finished both micro- and macro-editing, read your document out loud – slowly.

As a legal practitioner, your primary means of communication will be written communication. Don’t skip or gloss over this stage! Editing is a difficult skill to learn, and the best writers are not always the best editors. Remember, the client is paying for effective legal writing. More importantly, your writing should come across as professional and intelligent as you are.