Generate ideas and sketch a plan -- Rough out an initial draft -- Make global revisions: think big -- Revise and edit sentences; proofread the final draft -- Focus on a main point -- Develop the main point -- Link sentences to sentences, paragraphs to paragraphs -- Coordinate equal ideas; subordinate minor ideas -- Balance parallel ideas -- Add needed words -- Untangle mixed constructions -- Repair misplaced and dangling modifiers -- Eliminate distracting shifts -- Emphasize your point -- Provide some variety -- Tighten wordy sentences -- Choose appropriate language -- Find the exact words -- Repair sentence fragments -- Revise comma splices and fused sentences -- Make subjects and verbs agree -- Make pronouns and antecedents agree -- Make pronoun references clear -- Use personal pronouns and nouns in the proper case -- Use who and whom in the proper case -- Choose adjectives and adverbs with care -- Choose standard English verb forms -- Use verbs in the appropriate tense, mood, and voice -- Be alert to special problems with verbs -- Use the articles a, an, and the appropriately -- Be aware of other potential trouble spots -- The comma -- Unnecessary commas -- The semicolon -- The colon -- The apostrophe -- Quotation marks -- End punctuation -- Other punctuation marks: the dash, parentheses, brackets, the ellipsis mark, the slash -- Abbreviations -- Numbers -- Italics (underlining) -- Spelling -- The hyphen -- Capital letters -- Manuscript preparation -- Parts of speech -- Sentence patterns -- Subordinate work groups -- Sentence types.