Basic Tools and Concepts

Revision

When you revise you should do both macro and micro reviews of your document. Revising should consist of Rearranging, Reducing, and Rephrasing.

Rearrange

Macro

  • Overall Organization of issues
  • Organization within issues - IGPAC
  • Order of paragraphs

Micro

  • Ambiguous sentences
  • Ambiguous modifiers
  • Noun strings
  • Sentences in logical order
  • Only one point per sentence
  • Appropriate placement for emphasis

Reduce

Macro

  • Only essential issues
  • Appropriate depth of analysis
  • Appropriate amount of authority
  • Quotations

Micro

  • Throat clearing phrases
  • Unnecessarily long sentences
  • Redundancy

Rephrase

Macro

  • Clear presentation of authority
  • Analysis thorough for naive reader
  • Law integrated with your facts
  • Tone and objectivity
  • Paragraph structure
  • Transitions
  • Quotations

Micro

  • Use concrete nouns/verbs
  • Avoid nominalizations
  • Be precise
  • Prefer active voice
  • Use appropriate tense
  • Prefer positive over negative
  • Avoid Ambiguous words
  • Appropriate word connotations
  • Avoid legalese
  • Avoid sexist language