Revising and editing your assessments

Content
The first phase of editing your work  involves looking at the content to check that you have done everything the assessment requires. It’s also a good idea to look at the marking criteria in your assessment guide and then look at your work to find where you have met each criteria. Again, this will make sure you have covered everything. It also helps you imagine what it is like for your educator to mark your work, so if you are having trouble finding where you have addressed a particular criteria in your work, then your educator may have trouble finding it too!

• Have I addressed all parts of the assessment task?
• Have I incorporated information from my learning materials or other sources where appropriate?
• Have I checked my work against the marking criteria?

Structure
The next phase or level of editing it to look at the structure. An asessment with good structure and clear paragraphs/sections ensures it is easy for the reader to follow. More information can be found here about creating strong paragraphs. 

• Have I structured the information in clear sections?
• Does each sentence clearly follow on from the one before?
• Have I used linking words to help the sentences and ideas flow?

Style
The third level of editing is checking the writing style.

• Have I written in a formal and professional style?
• Have I paraphrased (used my own words) as much as possible?
• Have I referenced the information I got from sources?

It’s important that you write your paper in your own words otherwise it is considered plagiarism or copying at this is a serious matter. If you use some information from a source, you should reference it to show where you got that information from – even if it is in your own words.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation
Checking the grammar, spelling and punctuation is the fourth stage of the editing process.  Your aim should be to make your paper as clear and easy to understand as possible.

• Have you run a spelling and grammar check on your paper?
• Have you checked that all words are capitalised properly?
• Have you read your paper aloud to check that the sentences aren’t too long and make sense?

Presentation
Finally, it is important to check the presentation and formatting of your assignment to ensure your assessment looks professional. 

• Have you included the ACAP assessment cover sheet?
• Have you formatted your paper clearly, consistently, and professionally?
• For short answer assessments – have you included the question number?

You can download a PDF version of this revising and editing checklist under "Resources" below.