Local and Global Revision Checklist

Global and Local Revision Checklist - This article discusses the revision stage in the writing process by using a revision checklist. As discussed in the post how to write an article professionally in three stages, revision is an important stage to refine an article. Experts agreed that the first draft of the article is not worthy to publish because every article should be refined by checking the grammatical errors and idea organization. The revision stage helps a writer to see the chance to develop or shape his article.

In the revision process, even professional writers need a revision checklist. By having a revision checklist in his hands, he will know what to look for when revising and following all the revision steps by being guided by the revision checklist.

At the end of this article, we provide you an example of a complete revision checklist.

What is a revision checklist?

To define a revision checklist, let's see the meaning of revision and checklist first.

Revision is an act of revising while revising means looking over again to correct or improve. In the context of writing, revision is an activity of reading over an article again to find mistakes to be corrected and chances to improve or shape the article.

A checklist is a list of things to be checked or done. In this particular context, what to be checked is the grammatical errors or undeveloped ideas, or poor organization in the article. Meanwhile, what is to be done, in this context, is the correction of the grammatical errors and improvement of the idea and its organization.

Based on the definition of revision and checklist above, the meaning of revision checklist is “a list of items to be checked in a text that guides a writer in making correction and improvement on a text.”

A revision checklist, as you can see in the revision checklist template at the end of this article, contains several guiding questions that help a writer to check his article and consider for correction and improvement. Each guiding question directs the writer's focus to a particular item in his article so that the writer can work on every item in his article one by one.

A writer can revise his article without a revision checklist. However, there is a big chance that the writer will miss some items that need to be corrected or improved. At least, without a revision checklist, the writer will need more time in revising his article.

What should you look for when revising?

Content Revision and Form Revision

When we read an article, our eyes are seeing sentences or paragraphs. Our minds, however, see the meaning that the sentences and paragraphs are conveying. In the other words, there are at least two aspects that every article has, the form and the content. Our eyes see the form (vocabulary and grammar) while our minds see the content (idea and its organization, meaning).

During the revision process, you should look at both the form and the content but you can't do it at once. Your chance is to pay attention to one of them at a time.

It is recommended to look at the content first because if you revise the form (vocabulary and grammar) first, you may need to do it again after revising the content. It is so because content revision includes paragraph relocation and sentences addition or omission, which require grammatical adjustments.

Content revision pays attention to a larger part of the article. In terms of content, the smallest unit of the article is not a word or sentence but a paragraph. Therefore, in revising the content, you need to focus on the paragraph to the sub-section of your article. When you read a paragraph, you may feel that it does not convey your main idea or it should be relocated or even removed if it contains unnecessary or irrelevant ideas.

The form of your article gets your attention after you revised the content. Form revision covers the words that you used and the grammatical structure where the words are put together. The revision of the form pays attention to the smaller part of the article, the sentence. This is quite easier because by using a certain application like Grammarly you can have your grammatical mistakes corrected automatically.

In a complete revision checklist, these two aspects are separated into different sections. The guiding questions related to the content aspect of your article are listed under the global revision and the ones related to the form aspect of your article are listed under the local revision. A complete revision checklist must have global and local revision sections but different revision checklists may use different terms. Now, let’s take a closer look at the global and local revision in a revision checklist.

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Global revision

The global revision section in a checklist is guides to the writer to reconsider the ideas and their organization within his article. There are at least ten items that should be considered in the global revision:

1. The purpose fulfillment after rereading his article, a writer should have a “feeling” if his article has fulfilled his purpose of writing the article. If the writer feels that the purpose he planned has not been fulfilled in his article, then he should find the reason. Perhaps, he has missed some important ideas or the article has poor organization, explanation, or example.
2. The audience this is about what rhetorical decisions that the writer has made considering the targeted audience of the article. Your “language” should match your target audience. For example, if your target audience is academic communities, you will need to use scientific terms. Probably, you will need to put theories and relate them to facts or data. The words that you use and the way you use them should match the audience although you cannot anticipate that your article can be read by readers from different backgrounds.
3. The context some articles are poor of context and that made the readers confused about what was being discussed in that article. A good article should have at least one introductory part that introduces the purpose and context of the article. For example, this article was opened by a paragraph stating what this article is about.
4. The clarity of the main ideas a good article must contain clear main ideas so that the readers do not need to guess what the writer is trying to communicate. If a paragraph does not make clear sense in the readers' minds, the main idea of that paragraph is not clear enough.
5. The organization of the ideas every article has its organization whether the writer deliberately organizes it that way or not. It is important to consider if there are strong reasons behind the organization of your article. Did you plan it in the first place? If you follow the procedure that we discussed in this article, the chance that you have planned the organization of your ideas (paragraphs). If you didn't plan it before, you may need to reorganize them.
6. The transition between ideas most of the paragraphs in your article are chained by transition signals. The transition signals are used to show your readers that you will turn from one idea to another idea. The next idea may be the continuation or support to the previous idea or a comparison or a contradiction. Different relationships require different transition signals. Did you use the transition signals properly? Are your paragraphs coherent?
7. The consistency of idea your paragraphs or sections must bring the readers to understand the primary idea that you state in the title of your article either explicitly or implicitly. Of course, different paragraphs have different or unique main ideas but those must contribute to the understanding of the primary idea. There should not be any part of your article that goes against your primary idea. Some paragraphs, perhaps, sound contradicting to the primary idea of your article but by using proper transition signals, your readers will catch that those contradicting ideas are there as comparisons or examples.
8. The consistency of tone what is the role that you play behind your article? If you wrote a tutorial, you played a teacher role. If you wrote a story, you might play a narrator role. If you wrote an argumentative article, you might be either a supporter or an opponent. The role that you play determines your tone. Your tone appears in your words and the way you state your ideas (careful, confident, doubtful, etc.). You should make sure that your tone is consistent in all parts of your article.
9. The enrichment of idea: a writer should be able to see if his article needs to be developed or narrowed to match the purpose of his writing. In rereading your article, you may find some terms that you mentioned but not explained while those terms are importantly contributive to the readers' understanding of the primary idea of your article. There are many ways to enrich the ideas in your article. You can give examples and explain them by relating them to the ideas that you proposed. You can also quote from external sources and elaborate on the statements that you quote. On the other side, perhaps you find some parts that you think are unnecessary because they may be duplicates ideas or out-of-topic. These ideas should be removed to narrow your article only to the primary idea or your purpose of writing that article.
10. The conclusion whether or not you have a conclusion section in your article, after reading your article, the readers must be able to wrap your ideas up. They must get your points. If they cannot conclude anything after reading your article, your article must have a poor or weak conclusion. Even worse, the readers may misunderstand or draw a wrong conclusion. You don't have to write your conclusion in a particular section unless required by a publisher or an institution. You can write your concluding paragraph at the end of each section in your article. Your conclusion should be a clear and firm restatement of the main ideas.

Local revision

After having your content revised, you then do the local revision. Local revision takes a sentence as its scope, including the relationship among the sentences in a paragraph. In the simplest meaning, local revision is an attempt done by a writer to correct and improve the form of his text. Local revision tends to be closer to editing and correction rather than revision.

There are at least five items to be checked in local revision:

1. Grammar: grammar is everything in your article. Bad grammar can lead the readers to misunderstand and prevent you from expressing your ideas clearly. You should pay attention to the grammatical aspect of your sentences like subject-verb agreement, the use of correct passive voice, tenses, and so on. By using an application like Grammarly, your grammar correction will be easier.
2. Vocabulary: sentences are made up of words. Using words properly, including metaphors, will give clear and strong meaning to your sentences. You also need to spell-check your vocabulary. Text procession software like Microsoft Office Word has a spell-checker utility that can help you detect misspelled words in your article. Make use of them.
3. Capitalization: did you use correct capitalization with proper nouns? Is there any word that you capitalize while it should not be capitalized? Having proper capitalization in your article will make your article look professional.
4. Punctuation: This is very important in writing. Most novice writers didn't pay enough attention to learning and using punctuations correctly. Incorrect use of punctuations can lead the readers to misunderstand. For example, if you use a comma rather than a full stop at the end of your sentence, your readers cannot get your idea (in the sentence) as you expect. You need to refer to punctuation usage to learn about it.
5. Formatting: did you use headings and subheadings properly? Are your paragraphs indented? Did you write quotes properly? Do you need to set margins on your article? These are all about formatting. While formatting can be done at the end of your revision process, it does not mean that it is unimportant. Formatting is about writing your article correctly and properly.

What are the steps in the revision process?

After reading the previous sections, you will have a conclusion that you need to revise the content of your article (global revision) first then followed by revising the form (local revision). You are correct. However, there is some further recommendation in the revision process.

• Do not revise your article on the same day you finish it. After finishing your first draft, it seems like your mind is still full of ideas. Residual ideas in your mind will prevent you from identifying the mistakes or weaknesses in your article. It is recommended that you leave your article for one or two days before revising it. It will help you to reread your article as a reader or editor and not as a writer.
• Check the content of your article. You need to check the content of your article first. Reading your article and consider if your article has fulfilled your purpose of writing it. Use the global revision checklist to revise your article content.
• Check the form of your article. After having your content (ideas) organized, developed, and shaped, you can continue to revise or correct the form aspect of your article. Use the local revision checklist to do the correction and editing.
• Ask feedback from other people. It is very important to involve other people in the revision process. Ask people who are knowledgeable in the topic that you write to read your article. They can give you suggestions to improve your article after reading it.

The revision process can be recursive. During local revision, you may have something in your mind that requires you to return to the global revision. However, you should know when to stop revising. There is no perfect article and revision should not be an endless process.

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Revision checklist template

Global Revision Checklist

1. Purpose:
   • Do you feel that your article has fulfilled your purpose?
   • Can you find what you have missed in writing this article?
2. Audience:
   • Who is your target reader?
   • Did you use the proper language or style to correspond to your target reader?
   • Are your expressions suitable and understandable for readers in general?
3. Context:
   • Did you have an introductory paragraph at the beginning of your article?
   • Do you think that your readers can access the context of your discussion?
   • Did you consistently keep your discussion contextual?
4. Clarity:
   • Do the paragraphs have their main ideas?
   • Does the first sentence of each paragraph state the main idea?
   • Is there any paragraph that may confuse the readers?
5. Organization:
   • Did you plan the organization of your article?
   • Are your paragraphs in the right places?
   • Is there any paragraph that the meaning depends on the other next paragraphs?
   • Do you think it is necessary to relocate certain paragraphs to make them sensible?
6. The transition of ideas:
   • Are your paragraphs well chained?
   • Did you use proper transition signals?
   • Can you find incorrect use of transition signals in your article?
7. The consistency of idea:
   • Are you consistent with your ideas in your article?
   • Are there any contradicting ideas that you put for comparison? Are they clear?
8. The consistency of tone:
   • What is the role that you play behind your article?
   • Are you consistent to play that particular role within your article?
9. Content Enrichment:
   • Did you give examples in your article to clarify your ideas?
   • Are the examples elaborated and related to the ideas that you proposed?
   • Did you quote from external sources?
   • Did you elaborate and explain the statements that you quoted from the external sources?
   • Did you think it is important to use figures?
10. Conclusion:
    • Did you write the conclusion in a separate section in your article?
    • Did you put a concluding paragraph at the end of each section in your article?
    • Is your conclusion clear and consistent with the discussion?

Local Revision Checklist

1. Grammar:
   • Do the sentences in your article have grammatical errors?
   • Do the subjects agree with the verb?
   • Are there any transitive verbs used without an object?
   • Did you make passive voice correctly?
   • Did you use correct tenses?
2. Vocabulary:
   • Did you find any misspelled words?
   • Did you use strong and clear words?
   • Are there any ambiguous words?
   • Did you use metaphors properly?
   • Will your readers understand the words that you use?
3. Capitalization:
   • Did you start proper nouns with capital letters?
   • Did you have correct capitalization overall headings in your article?
   • Do your sentences start with capital letters?
   • Do you know that articles (a, an, the, those, these) and coordinating conjunctions begin with lowercase letters unless they are located at the beginning of the sentence?
4. Punctuation:
   • Have you used commas to set off listed items?
   • Did you end your sentences with a punctuation mark properly?
   • Did you use colons and semicolons correctly?
5. Formatting:
   • Do you need to set the margins and space of your article?
   • Are your paragraphs indented?
   • Did you quote correctly?