For some people, there is a huge difference between revising your writing on screen and on paper. In fact, we highly recommend everyone (especially those who grew up with computers) to try out revising from a printout at least once. You never know – it might prove more beneficial for you.
The best argument for “on paper” editing is the window size. With a hard copy, you can read large chunks of text in one glance, something that isn’t possible on a scrolling Word document.
With that said, though, I’ve been very partial towards computer-based editing for the longest time, largely for speed and ease considerations. It’s just considerably simpler to revise from a PC than from a printout. The former, you can do right where you’re working, while the latter would require an extra peripheral and, possibly, even a different work area.
Grammar Software
For the most part, I find that being able to use a grammar software easily compensates for any downsides PC-based editing brings to the table. In fact, I can’t imagine ever editing a piece of writing anymore without the use of a competent software that goes through it word by word, ably figuring out transgressions against the rules of the English language.
An electronic alternative to the problem of reading chunks of text, by the way, is to use either a larger monitor (where going on full screen mode still allows you to read the fonts) or a rotating one (which can go from landscape to portrait mode with a single movement). While it’s not the “exact same thing” (you can’t run a marker on the screen, for instance), the experience should be approximately similar.
