Do You Revise Your Work?

As I'm sure you've seen by now, we have officially launched our website. While we will continue to add new features and tools to it over the next several months, we felt it was important to publish something with the basic information about our brand. So what am I getting at? 

The site was actually finished an entire week before it was published, and I'm glad that we took the extra time to look over and revise it. Here's why: Unbeknownst to me was the fact that a website's interface on the computer typically needs to be slightly altered for the mobile interface. While I was looking over the site myself, I had several close friends and relatives take a look at it and give me feedback. The only concern most people had was they said that in the services section on the homepage it was hard to read the text because the picture was behind it.

Now, I knew that wasn't the case on the computer, so initially I was a bit confused by what they meant. Then I realized that everyone who had said that must have been using their cellphone, and sure enough upon checking the mobile site on my phone, I found the issue. It was a relatively easy fix, requiring me to simply change the design of the template on the website designer. My point is this though: If we had simply published the site upon completion we would have missed the fact the mobile interface was hard to read, and this could have caused potential problems in the future. So if we hadn't of taken a week to look over it and send it to others, we would have probably missed the error.

The revision process is a very important, yet often times neglected, part of doing your work. This is especially true if you are doing something unfamiliar to you such as web design was to me. I mean I get it, a lot of times we'll finish an assignment, email, et cetera and we'll send it just be done with it. However, there are serious ramifications to doing this especially if you are doing something for school or work. 

So let's say you are writing an email to your colleagues-- I know, email writing is my go-to example, but it's because I think it's so relatable-- you're going to want to make sure your email is concise and mistake-free. Why? Because if there are several small mistakes or a lot of unnecessary information your colleagues may begin to question your competency. This is even more true if you are in a higher position than them.

I have heard stories about supervisors sending mass emails to their employees that were written so poorly that the employees began to question the supervisors ability to lead. In fact, one such story involved a supervisor who did not fluently speak English, and as such, his emails sounded like they were written by someone in middle school. It reached the point where upper-management, that is, the supervisor's boss, had to tell the supervisor to either take English classes to improve his fluency or lose his position as supervisor.

I don't know if the supervisor had looked over his emails before he sent them, but I'm willing to bet that if he had spent a bit more time revising his writing his situation would not have become as urgent as it did.

Another great example of the importance of revising is the weekly blog post I write for our page. Do you know how many times I reread what I write to ensure there are no mistakes? A lot. Do you know how many mistakes I find each time I reread a post? A lot. You see, everyone makes mistakes regardless of their proficiency in something (language or otherwise,) but not everyone takes the much needed time to revise their work, which I would say is more important than actually completing it. 

Let me ask you: what would you think of these posts if they had a lot of mistakes? Would you actually think I am an English Proficiency Specialist as my title claims? No, of course not. If I were making a lot of mistakes myself, why would you think I would be capable of helping you correct yours? But the thing is, I do make mistakes, a lot of them. I just take the time--typically about an hour or two-- to reread and revise what I wrote.

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So here's the deal: no matter what kind of work you're doing, you need to take some time to revise it. Revising your work, not only makes your look more professional and knowledgeable, but it will make you more confident in your own ability because you'll know you're producing quality work. 

I know that revising can seem unnecessary, but I assure you, it is crucial. It really is the difference between work produced by an amateur and work produced by a professional. 

I know that sometimes the revision process can feel overwhelming, but to help you get started, here's what I typically do:

-I usually don't wait until I finish writing to begin revising. What I mean is that I will reread each few paragraphs I write before writing more. This not only saves times but it also allows me to catch smaller mistakes that I might have missed if I had waited until I finished writing.

-I read what I wrote out loud. This helps because a lot of times when simply reading something you wrote in your head, you overlook mistakes because you perceive the writing as you meant it to be. However, by reading it out loud you are much more likely to hear a mistake. I use this trick with students all the time.

-I will have a friend listen to what I wrote. Sometimes even reading my own writing out load isn't enough, so that's why I have someone else listen to it. Obviously, there is a good chance that someone else  will notice a mistake you haven't picked-up on, but also, when I read my writing to another person, I tend to read it more carefully which can allow me to find mistakes that I missed when reading to myself.

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Personally, I like to think of the writing process as being 60% writing and 40% revising. Of course, this may vary depending on what kind of work you're doing, but I think as a general rule-of-thumb you should follow the 60/40 rule. Revising is really the difference between good and subpar work, and as such, I strongly urge you to spend at least some time revising. 

Here's a simple way to help you use the 60/40 rule effectively:

If I spend ___ hours working, I should spend ____ hours revising.

-2 hours of work/0.5 hours of revising
-4 hours of work/1.5 hours of revising
-6 hours of work/2.5 hours revising 

I would say as long as you're spending at least an hour or two revising you should be good, but of course, this varies. So how much time do you spend revising your work? Do you have any tips or tricks you use? Let us know in the comments. If you have any ideas for future topics you would like us to address or if you have any general questions or concerns, email us at levelupproficiency@gmail.com or send us a message on our Facebook page.

Ryan M. Shea, English Proficiency Specialist.
www.levelupproficiency.com