Editing makes good prose better
Presidents wield pens in writing process

The editing part of the nonfiction writing process usually gets short shrift from students. They seem to think that once they've composed their documents, they are finished.

Students usually have to learn through trial and error the importance of editing. However, you may be able to encourage them by example.

If you cannot get examples of editing by Lady Gaga and Tiger Woods, you might have to settle for a couple of famous U. S. presidents.

The White House posted to Flickr an Official White House Photo by Pete Souza of President Barack Obama editing a speech Sept. 9, 2009 in the Oval Office, in preparation for his address to a joint session of Congress. The photo shows an extensively annotated and edited document.

(If you want to use the photo with your students, click the photo to go to the Flickr page where you can get the photo in a larger size.)

A famous, earlier piece of American writing, the Declaration of Independence, was prepared by a team of writers that included two presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

The Library of Congress documents collection holds copies of the Declaration, which shows extensive editing by Thomas Jefferson, who later became the third president of the United States. (John Adams was the second president.)

If your students are taking American history, they might want to watch the 2008 TV miniseries John Adams. The second episode of the series shows the writing team discussing what the Declaration should say.

Adams and Franklin and tell Jefferson what to write and leave him to get on with it. Later Adams and Franklin come back to criticize Jefferson's wording.

You can draw a lesson there for students who must learn to write collaboratively. Perhaps the reason people prefer to skip editing is that someone always complains about the way the author did it.