Second Look
Cut a Favourite Sentence Only After Identifying the Job It Does
Decide whether to cut a favourite sentence by identifying its function, testing the paragraph without it and preserving useful work elsewhere.
A place to follow a sentence
Second Look
Return to a piece with fresh questions about purpose, clarity and the experience of reading it.
Second Look
Replace a Vague Transition with the Actual Relationship Between Paragraphs
Words such as “furthermore” and “however” can make a draft sound connected while leaving its reasoning unclear. Before changing the transition, name the…
Second Look
An Essay’s Counterexample Should Be Strong Enough to Change Something
A counterexample that nobody would seriously offer makes an argument look tested without putting it under pressure. Choose a case that genuinely challenges…
Second Look
A Draft’s Most Interesting Sentence May Belong in a Different Piece
A sentence can be vivid, accurate and completely wrong for the draft around it. Moving it elsewhere is not the same as deciding it has no value.
Second Look
Give Your Essay’s Key Term a Boundary Before Repeating It
An essay can repeat a word such as community, access or success while quietly changing what it means. The sentences may sound coherent even as the argument…
Second Look
An Exact Number Can Make a Fictional Description More Interesting—or Less Honest
“There were seventeen cups” gives a scene a different voice from “cups covered the table.” Before choosing the exact number, ask whether the observing…
Second Look
Give a List of Research Questions a Stopping Rule
Research for a piece can continue indefinitely when every answer opens another tab. A stopping rule helps you identify what the draft actually needs before…
Second Look
A Footnote Can Hold a Detour Without Hiding Essential Information
A footnote gives a writer somewhere to place material that would interrupt a sentence or paragraph. It is less helpful when the reader must keep leaving the…