How to Edit Your Articles

To produce a well-written piece of work demands toil. One can ill-afford to oversee the fact that a poorly edited article or book can destroy your freelance writing career even before it can blossom. Therefore, it goes without saying that you have to give equal if not more importance to build up your editing skills even as you focus on enhancing your writing abilities. Here are a few tips that will help you improve your editing capabilities. These are points which you must remember before you hit the 'Submit' button.

The time to start your editing work is as soon as your finish your first draft. Take a few minutes off and then start with self-editing before you decide whether you require professional help. Take these points into consideration as you begin editing your work:

Order: Look at the order of your thoughts as they flow. Map your thoughts as they flow in your writing. Do you think that the content is well organized? Would a different flow help the reader understand your contentions better? Go ahead and play with your contents till you get the best flow.

Balance: Balancing your chapters holds the key to reader engagement. This is particularly important when you are writing a book. Imagine yourself to be the reader. When you pick up a book and glance through it you draw an assumption of how much time you may require to complete each chapter. Imagine beginning to read the book and finding that one chapter is of 10 pages and another of 60 pages. Do you think this will disturb the flow of your reading? Yes! It does. Remember your readers have other things to do apart from reading you. They have to plan their reading. Ensure that you have broken up your chapters to give it the right balance. Pull the reader in and towards the middle the chapters may be longer once you have the attention of your reader.

Redundancy: Redundancy can prove to be a drab on your writing. Give your draft a quick read. Look at the ideas that you have expressed in your article. How do they flow? Keep your eyes open to the concepts which you have discussed. Have you repeated any of them? Unless you have repeated them with a specific objective - to clarify a point or build an argument, repeating ideas and concepts in your article may make them redundant and irritating for your readers.

Thought Patterns: Consistency of though patterns is what readers appreciate. It makes them feel like travelling on a smooth road. Do not shift your patterns without propose. If you fail to maintain consistency it will show you off as a disjointed author. As you self-edit your articles and books, keep your eyes open for the patterns that you have adopted. If most of your chapter titles begin with a verb, all of them need to match. If most chapters begin with a quote it is important that you retain consistency. It helps your readers to be prepared to absorb your thoughts better.

Citations: The way you notate your citations helps separate you from the ordinary. Ensure that you maintain consistency in your citations. It may seem obnoxious, but remember that the citations that you use define how serious you are as an author. Decide how to notate your citations and where to put your reference notes. Always do it the same way so your readers understand where to look for them.