The new year is about to enter its second month, and many of you may have made resolutions and are working hard on achieving your goals. The second term of your academic year has also begun, which means the term will end with the final examinations. Taking this opportunity, let me ask — how are most of you approaching your studies this final term? Have you learnt some lessons from the last term?

Whatever you have decided, I urge you to start taking your studies seriously. The time for change is now. There is no use regretting inaction when exams are on you and the time has run out. The key is consistent, focused effort made as early as possible and do not leave things until the last minute. Review what did and did not work in the last term and make appropriate adjustments now.

So as the term kicks off, establish strong studying habits that will pay dividends across this year and beyond. One of the most useful skills you may not have given much attention to before, but that you can develop now, is learning how to rewrite and edit your school work. Today I am going to discuss the significance of rewriting skills and how fixing up your work can help strengthen your writing abilities.

So, what exactly does rewriting actually entail? Simply put, it’s revisiting a draft you’ve written thoroughly — whether you have written an essay, story, poem, science project, or exam prep — rewriting is specifically looking for ways to thoughtfully improve and polish it. This takes some extra effort, yes, but the academic and personal growth benefits make it well worth it!

Think about the times when your teacher has told you to rewrite a passage or redo it. The thought of going through the whole answer again might have annoyed you. But your teacher wanted you to take a quick second look at your write-up so that the nifty little errors that you overlooked before could come into your view and you could edit and rewrite it after giving it a second read.

Besides several benefits of rewriting, I want to give you another perspective — think of it as a tool that helps you deeply understand what you have learnt. When you revisit your draft, you force yourself to again process the same key ideas, facts and arguments you have written out. In having to review and rework your writing, you often gain clearer comprehension and knowledge that you had not thought of before. This is an active learning process and it engages your brain in critical and analytical thinking.

As a result, you start making sense of your ideas and arguments, refine your word choice, etc, more than before. This way, you not only pick up flaws in the writing, but also fill in the gaps in your understanding of the underlying concepts that you may have not clearly understood before. So rewriting guides you to learn completely and meaningfully, while sharpening your communication abilities.

Rewriting for excellence

Rewriting for excellence is about striving to make your work the absolute best it can be. It takes rewriting beyond just fixing mistakes — it’s about upgrading your whole thinking abilities. The whole process of going through your work again takes your work to higher levels while making you a better thinker and writer along the way.

Rewriting boosts clarity and readability

We all know that no matter how much we read, write and edit, our draft seems to need more and more corrections. The more we refine, the more apt and perfect our piece becomes. Because you examine your own expression, flow, vocabulary and sentence structure, therefore, you make corrections while taking away confusion and complexity.

It strengthens critical thinking

As I said earlier, when you check for flaws, logically you refine arguments through rewriting and it promotes sharper analysis and evaluation abilities. The practice of rewriting enhances your ability to discern the validity of the information you provide and you also identify logical conflicts.

It teaches healthy perfectionism

As you work hard to make your first draft better, it also shows your great determination and effort. It’s good to keep improving on important things rather than being satisfied with work that’s just ‘okay’. However, in the process, many kids and adults become overly obsessed with making something ‘perfect’, remember, it can never actually reach perfection.

So, maintain a healthy balance and aim to make your work better than before. The goal is progress, not perfection. Know you can always raise your skills and output to a higher level but don’t get trapped feeling your work is not good enough.

Tips for revamping your drafts

Hopefully, you’re now motivated to embrace rewriting as a necessary tool for boosting your grades and talents this year! So, why not learn to do it in the right way.

• When you think, you need to go through your work again, just set your draft aside for at least a day then revisit it with fresh eyes. More flaws and room for improvement will stand out.

• Ensure that the purpose of your piece is clear. What do you want to convey? What is the main message or argument? Make sure your draft aligns with your intended purpose.

• Read aloud slowly. Your ears will catch awkward phrases and bumpy flow that needs smoothing out.

• Make revising fun by challenging yourself to playfully upgrade the draft, not just correct errors. Experiment with new words and change of tone!

• Rewrite important passages two to three times till they pop out amazingly with crisp and concise information.

Practicing rewriting can help you grow new skills! This year, challenge yourself to not submit any first drafts. Use rewriting to reach higher levels of understanding and improve how well you write. Turn from someone who rushes to finish to someone who makes their work the very best it can be.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 27th, 2024