10 Principles of Content Rewriting Process

Rewriting. The word many writers don’t like, but everyone does. Do you know why? Because rewriting is an essential component of writing. Let’s learn it with an example! 

Suppose you are writing a research paper where you are bound to mention authentic sources of information to validate your research. At the same time, you have to avoid plagiarism and keep exact quotes to a minimum level. In that case, what options do you have to cite sources? Only one, rewriting!

In the world of writing, rewriting cannot be avoided. So, writers must hone their rewriting skills to create extraordinary masterpieces. With the help of these particular skills, any writer can refine their text, communicate with their readers more effectively, and make their content more engaging and worth reading.

If you want to improve your rewriting skills and content, this article is for you. Let’s learn the 10 principles of the content rewriting process! 

• Understand the Essence of the Content

When it comes to rewriting, the first principle is always to understand the essence of the content you are going to rewrite. It can help if you have an idea about the overall discussion of the blog or post from where you have picked the portions to rewrite. In addition, you must know what message the original author wanted to convey and how they built their arguments. In case you don’t know about it, you may not be able to align with the original content.

To understand the context of the content, you must thoroughly read the text and learn everything about it. This practice will help you ensure your content is reliable, informative, and clear. In addition, it can also help you earn a good reputation among your readers.

• Simplify Complex Ideas

The second principle of content rewriting is to simplify complex ideas. Sometimes the original content is filled with jargon and technical terminologies that not every reader can understand. If so, there is an opportunity for you. You have to utilize it and rewrite the text in a less complicated manner to attract more readers.

For that purpose, you can use easy-to-understand words and phrases. The use of understandable words and expressions can help you effectively communicate everything. Moreover, you can also elaborate on ideas in a better and easier way. Apart from that, you should also break long sentences, paragraphs, and portions into smaller ones. 

• Avoid Using Passive Voice

“Never use the passive where you can use the active,” George Orwell. Here is one of the top six tips by George Orwell for writers. He emphasized the active voice because it works better than the passive voice. The passive voice sometimes makes the content uninteresting. Moreover, the passive voice isn’t direct. 

When rewriting, you should locate all the sentences written in passive voice and convert them into active voice. It will assist you in making the content more natural and concise. Furthermore, it will communicate your ideas better and avoid confusion.

• Trim Unnecessary Words

Here comes another tip by Animal Farm’s author. “If it is possible to cut a word, always cut it out.” As a writer, you would have noticed that sometimes we use many words and phrases that don’t provide any value except enhancing the word count. You must know that those words or phrases make the content dull. That’s why you should trim all unnecessary words, phrases, or expressions.

If you can communicate an idea in two words, do it within that limit. It improves the content quality as every word, phrase, and sentence provides some value to readers.

• Breakup Long Paragraphs

Long paragraphs make the content look unappealing. They also make the content harder to understand. Therefore, whenever you rewrite a paragraph, cut it short, no matter how long it is in the original text. The shorter your paragraphs are, the more digestible your content will be.

Also, when rewriting paragraphs, you should remember the rules for writing them. For example, the first sentence should be the topic sentence, followed by two or three supporting sentences, and at last, the concluding sentence to summarize the discussion. It will help you form easy-to-understand paragraphs and convey your message effectively. And lastly, always remember the principle of “one idea, one paragraph.”

• Eliminate Grammatical Errors

Do you prefer reading content with a lot of grammar mistakes? If not, your readers aren’t different from you. They also prefer to avoid reading content filled with grammatical errors. Most readers don’t read content to get only information, but they also want to enjoy the reading process. To help them enjoy the reading process, you should improve your grammar knowledge. Moreover, you should also learn to find and remove grammar mistakes.

In case you don’t want to do it yourself, there are some grammar checking tools that you can use to find all the grammar issues in your content and remove them with a single click.

• Consider Time and Audience

When you copy content for rewriting, you must check when and for whom it was written. It can help you ensure that you have picked the right content. Sometimes the content was written a few years ago, and it is outdated. Rewriting that content serves no benefits. In fact, it can spoil a writer’s reputation as the audience may believe that the writer doesn’t have the subject knowledge.

To save your reputation, you must consider the time and audience. When you consider both things while rewriting, you can make your content more engaging, direct, and updated. Besides, you can also provide more recent data to your readers and build trust.

• Check for Plagiarism

Once you are done with the rewriting process, now comes the most important part, checking for plagiarism. It is one of the essential things to do. No matter whether you have paraphrased a few paragraphs or a whole article, don’t forget to check the content for plagiarism using a dependable plagiarism checker.

When you use a reliable plagiarism checker to find the plagiarism instances in the content, you favor yourself. It scans the whole document and compares it with an extensive database. Then, if the plagiarism checker locates any similarities between your text and any other one, it highlights the duplicate portions so you can remove plagiarism. That’s how it can save you from disappointment and the severe consequences of plagiarism.

• Ensure Accuracy

Bringing accuracy to your content is essential to make it worth reading and high-quality. In case your content is full of grammatical, contextual, and factual errors, your readers can immediately locate them and close your content. Moreover, they could also tell others about it. So, it can ruin the credibility that you have built over time.

Therefore, it is essential to always double-check your content before submitting or publishing it. When it comes to grammatical issues, make use of grammar checkers. And for factual and contextual inaccuracies, do your research, and if possible, cite authentic sources.

• Bring Perfection by Proofreading and Editing

Here comes the last principle of content rewriting. Proofreading and editing is always essential whether you have written content yourself or used an article rewriter for content creation.

Proofreading involves thoroughly checking your content for mistakes. Moreover, in this process, you check for readability, clarity, and consistency of style and tone. On the other hand, editing involves making changes to the issues you find during proofreading. Together, these things can make your content more specific and align with the audience’s interests. That’s how you can make your work perfect and ready to go.

A Tip for Content Rewriters

Rewriting is undoubtedly an interesting process that many content creators enjoy. However, sometimes it becomes very frustrating. There are multiple online article rewriter tools that you can use for rewriting content. Those tools usually brush up on the text without changing the essence. Plus, they save a lot of time. So, when you have some helpful tools, utilize them and feel relaxed.

Final Words

In the last analysis, content rewriting is a crucial step in content creation, and no one can avoid it. However, you can make it more exciting and easy by learning the principles of content rewriting. Apart from making the overall process easier, these principles can also help make your text more enjoyable, readable, and credible. So, remember them whenever you put your fingers on the keyboard for rewriting.