9.3: Editing for style

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Page ID: 25423

Alexandra Glynn, Kelli Hallsten-Erickson & Amy Jo Swing
North Hennepin Community College & Lake Superior College

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You can edit for style now that you have reviewed the things having to do with style, as above.

Style or tone issues that we ourselves often don’t perceive, these can be noticed by another. Am I actually offending someone? Am I sounding strident when I only want to sound passionate? Am I coming across as negative? Who am I really going to convince with this? Knowing audience well is the ticket here. But in academic and college writing, often the audience is really “your instructor,” which makes it hard because it is sort of a fake situation. But it is perhaps going to be easier when you get out into the real world, because you’ll almost always be quite aware of your audience, and it won’t be just one instructor at one school with specific ideas and a certain way of thinking.

What else can you edit for?

Content is first. But there are other things to edit for, too. What do you want to achieve? Again, audience drives this. And again, your instructor, or your peer or supervisor can help you out.