In the writing consultation at the TU Dresden Writing Center, many good questions are asked. To the question "How do I gain distance from my text when revising?" Annica, trained writing peer tutor since 2022, gives a first answer:

When you've been working on your work for weeks or even months, it's not uncommon to become blind to your own mistakes. This is quite normal, because you know your own text too well, perhaps you still know exactly why you wrote something in a certain way and therefore often don't question it easily. That's why it can be helpful in the revision process to create a little more distance from the text again. But how can you achieve this?

Ideally, you should have planned enough time for revising your writing project so that you can afford to leave the text for a day or even several days before you continue working on it. After all, it can already be helpful if you don't skim over your work over and over again, but take some time off. This way, you can look at it with a fresher eye and perhaps a new perspective.

You don't have much time left until the deadline? Then try to divide your text into several revision sections. While one part of the text is resting and waiting to be revised, devote yourself to revising another part of the text or write your introduction and conclusion or create the list of figures and appendices.

In addition, if you want to try something more, try to alienate the text. Sometimes just changing the font or font size is enough to get a fresh look at your text. Always staring at the exact same document on your laptop is exhausting and tempts you to just skim the text and miss mistakes. To prevent this, printing out the text is another antidote. But reading it aloud can also be a good option. Whether you read your text to yourself or let Word do the job for you, for example: In either case, it may make the text feel less like your own work and allow you to look at (or listen to) it from a new angle. You may notice things while listening that you missed while reading.

In any case, the following applies when revising: Take a structured approach. Distance from the text alone is of little use if you try to concentrate on spelling, content, and language at the same time. Even then, you're likely to miss mistakes because you're simply dealing with too many aspects at once. Instead, plan several revision passes and set a clear focus for each one. Then nothing should go wrong when revising, because revising is not really witchcraft!

Also an important part of the revision phase: get feedback. At tud.link/pigf you can find a checklist (PDF) for text feedback. You can find more checklists and tips for text revision or the entire writing process in our online infothek on OPAL.

Would you like to discuss your text or would you like further assistance in revising it? Then just come to our writing consultation! For more information, visit our Writing Consultation website.

This post appeared on the occasion of the August 2022 Writing Center Newsletter. This and other newsletter issues are linked in the Writing Center Newsletter Archive.

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​The Writing Center of the TU Dresden (SZD) supports students and lecturers with offers for planning and writing various texts in studies such as vouchers, protocols, seminar papers and theses and for teaching academic writing in teaching and supervision. All information about offers and possibilities of support can be found in the areas for students and lecturers.

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