Welcome to the final module of Business Writing. You've learned some important lessons. We're always working towards clarity, and to get there, design, organization, and grammar really matter. Now, we're going to talk about revision, which is one of the most important lessons of all. [SOUND] There is no good writing without revision. By revision, I mean rewriting, adjusting sentences, cutting ideas, adding things that are missing and more. You revise even as you began to write. The two are practically inseparable. And by revision, I don't necessarily mean proofreading. Proofreading is one part of revision, but it's only a small part of revision. Proofreading is really what you do at the end, and you should absolutely proofread things before you send them out. But by revision, I mean something that you do almost from the beginning, almost when you start writing and that you do all the way through. You should never come to a finished document that you share with people and not have had a lot of drafts that you've already worked through. >> Hey, Cuscon here, working on his script for his MOOC. I just want to say, the thing with writing, it's all about revision. You gotta get something down, but then you just keep going over it and over it, and it's the same for all of us. Okay, back to work. >> I want to stress that the process of revision means reading over your work and rewriting many times. I'm always amazed when my students tell me that they only do one or two drafts of their work before they turn it in. I have to tell you something, it really shows. If you don't put out the effort, you won't be fooling anyone. For example, I don't even send out the most casual email without having read it and changed it at least three times. It's just a habit, and it's really a habit that you should get into, too. For really important documents, I revise them many, many times before I send them out. Remember, we're writing and designing our document for the final experience that our reader will have. The first draft gets your ideas and thoughts on the page where you want them. The process of revision helps to clean the window pane. It helps you hone your writing so that it meets best practices and becomes as clear as possible. Our next videos. each cover a single revision technique. I've broken them down for you into single videos to make them easier for you to really understand and learn and really apply it to your own writing. The optional quizzes that follow will give you a chance to practice and really hone your skills. Once you know these techniques, you can use them as a checklist whenever you revise as you walk through your document. They're there for you to help you as a toolkit, to make you a better writer. The beauty is that the more you practice these techniques, the more they'll become habit for you, they'll become automatic. You'll start self-editing as soon as you start writing. I should warn you, you're going to notice how many people don't use these techniques in their writing, and it might bother you a little bit. But as you began really applying them to your own work, that's going to be a great feeling, because it's a signal of how far you've come on your journey to becoming a great writer. At the end of this lesson, I've provided this self-editing checklist that you can download. You can use it in your own revision process.
