14 Revising Workplace Documents
Learning How to Revise Workplace Documents
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this chapter, you should be able to
- describe the role of revision in the writing process;
- describe the three stages, and their elements, of the revision process;
- demonstrate the application of the revision process outlined in this module to a sample of your own writing;
- demonstrate constructive and respectful revision feedback when given a sample of writing.
Introduction
You may have heard the phrase “Writing is rewriting.” This is just as true for technical and business documents such as the ones often found in organizations. Even the best, most accomplished writers in the world almost never lead with their first draft. Instead, there is a constant process of revision, namely, “(to) examine and improve or amend (written or printed matter).”
In this chapter you will first learn to distinguish revision from rewriting. Then you will learn the three stages of editing for business documents that you can perform once you’ve selected your format and completed a first draft. These include the structural edit, the copy edit, and proofreading. Finally, you will learn about the common tools editors and communicators use to make revising easier and more consistent.
Revision vs. Rewriting
The definition of rewriting is to “write (something) again so as to alter or improve it.” In this module we focus on ways to alter and improve your writing, but we wish to make a distinction between revising and rewriting. For our purposes, rewriting would essentially mean throwing away your draft and starting again, whereas revising would mean making incremental improvements to your draft.
For example, you begin to draft a business letter to a supplier because you have a complaint about recent late deliveries. You address it to the client services department and include referencing numbers dates and times of the late deliveries. Just then your boss gets back from a conference and she tells you that she wound up having lunch with the director of client services for that very supplier. She said the director was very interested in your experience and wanted something on paper sent directly to him. You now have to decide whether to simply revise the letter or start fresh with a rewrite.
You re-read your draft and realize (1) the audience has changed from a department to a specific person; (2) that specific person is already interested in building/maintaining a relationship; (3) the purpose is no longer to complain but to build a better future relationship by solving past problems, namely, late deliveries; and (4) the tone feels overly formal now, considering the new audience and new purpose. For these reasons you decide to start fresh with a re-write, give the draft to your boss for
review/comments, and then officially begin looking at your document through the lenses of the three stages of revision.
The Three Stages of Editing (Revision)
When you are editing