Those who have been through the ecstasies and agonies of writing the satisfaction is known by an essay(and quite often the sadness) of finishing. When you have done all the work of figuring out what you need to say, arriving at an arguable and thesis that is interesting analyzing your evidence, organizing your ideas, and contending with counter-arguments, you may feel that you have nothing left to accomplish but run spell-check, print it out and await your professor’s response. But what spell- check can not discern is really what real readers might think or feel once they read your essay: where they might become confused, or annoyed, or bored, or distracted. Anticipating those responses is the working job of an editor—the job you are taking on as you edit your own personal work.

While you proceed, understand that sometimes what might appear like a problem that is small mask (be a manifestation of) a larger one. A poorly-worded phrase—one that seems, say, unclear or vague—may just need some tweaking to fix; however it may indicate that the thinking has not developed fully yet, you are not quite sure what you need to state. Your language could be vague or confusing because the idea itself is. So learning, as Yeats says, to “cast a eye that is cold on the prose isn’t only a matter of arranging the finishing touches on your own essay. It’s about making your essay better from the inside (clarifying and deepening your ideas and insights) and through the outside (expressing those ideas in powerful, lucid, graceful prose). These five guidelines might help.

Read your essay aloud .

We can sometimes lose sight of the larger picture, of how all the sentences sound when they’re read quickly one after the other, as your readers will read them when we labor over sentences. Once you read out, your ear will pick up a few of the nagging problems your eye might miss.

While you read your essay, remember the “The Princess while the Pea,” the story of a princess so sensitive she was bothered by an individual pea buried beneath the pile of mattresses she lay upon. As an editor, you wish to be like the princess—highly hire writer online tuned in to anything that seems slightly odd or “off” in your prose. Therefore if something strikes you as problematic, do not gloss on it. Investigate to discover the character of the problem. Odds are, if something bothers you only a little, it shall bother your readers a lot.

Be sure all your words are performing important work in making your argument .

Are all of the phrases and words necessary? Or will they be just using up space? Are your sentences sharp and tight, or are they loose and dull? Don’t say in three sentences what you could say in one single, and do not use 14 words where five will do. You prefer every word in your sentence to include as much meaning and inflection as you can. Yourself what “own personal” adds when you see phrases like “My own personal opinion,” ask. Isn’t that what “my” means?

Even small, apparently unimportant words like “says” are worth your attention. In the place of “says,” can you use a expressed word like argues, acknowledges, contends, believes, reveals, suggests, or claims? Words such as these not only make your sentences more lively and interesting, they give you useful information: he or she said that thing; “said” merely reports if you tell your readers that someone “acknowledges” something, that deepens their understanding of how or why.

3. Bear in mind the idea of le mot juste. Always try to look for the most wonderful words, the most precise and language that is specific to say what you mean. Without the need for concrete, clear language, you cannot convey to your readers precisely what you think of a subject; you can only speak in generalities, and everyone has recently heard those: “The evils of society are a drain on our resources.” Sentences like this could mean so many things you intended that they end up meaning nothing at all to your readers—or meaning something very different from what. Be specific: What evils? Which societies? What resources? Your readers are reading your words to see what you think, what you need certainly to say.

If you should be having difficulty putting your finger on just the right word, consult a thesaurus, but only to remind yourself of the options. Never choose words whose connotations or contexts that are usual do not really understand. Using language you are not really acquainted with can cause more imprecision—and that can lead your reader to question your authority.

4. Beware of inappropriately elevated language—words and phrases which are stilted, pompous, or jargony. Sometimes, in an effort to sound more reliable or authoritative, or even more sophisticated, we puff up our prose with this sort of language. Usually we only wind up sounding like we are trying to sound smart—which is a sign that is sure our readers that individuals’re not. Because you think they’ll sound impressive, reconsider if you find yourself inserting words or phrases. When your ideas are great, you should not strain for impressive language; if they’re not, that language will not help anyway.

Inappropriately language that is elevated be a consequence of nouns being used as verbs. Most parts of speech function better—more elegantly—when the roles are played by them they certainly were meant to play; nouns work very well as nouns and verbs as verbs. Read the following sentences aloud, and listen to how pompous they sound.

He exited the space. It is necessary that proponents and opponents of this bill dialogue about its contents before voting on it.

Exits and dialogues operate better as nouns and there are lots of ways of expressing those ideas without turning nouns into verbs.

The room was left by him. People should debate the pros and cons with this bill before voting.

Every now and then, though, this might be a rule worth breaking, as in “He muscled his option to the front regarding the relative line.” “Muscled” gives us a lot of information which may otherwise take words that are several even sentences to express. And because it’s not awkward to learn, but lively and descriptive, readers will not mind the temporary shift in roles as “muscle” becomes a verb.

5. Be tough on the most sentences that are dazzling. While you revise, you could find that sentences you needed in earlier drafts no longer belong—and these may be the sentences you’re most partial to. We are all guilty of trying to sneak inside our favorite sentences where they do not belong, because we can not bear to cut them. But writers that are great ruthless and can throw out brilliant lines if they’re no longer relevant or necessary. They know that readers will undoubtedly be less struck by the brilliance than by the inappropriateness of these sentences and they let them go.