Cosmetic revision is making changes that someone else points out for you
Local revision is making stylistic changes on the sentence and paragraph level
Radical revision is making more widespread changes, usually structural changes
For example:
A student writes, “Everyone must do their homework to succeed in college,” and I point out that “their” is a distracting error (#22). When the student changes “their” to “his or her” or changes “Everyone” to “All students,” this is an example of cosmetic revision.
Another student writes this sentence: “Society today is expectant of grotesque scenes and over the top gore to be pulled onto the edge of their seats” and I suggest that the sentence is awkwardly phrased. There are many ways to change the sentence and whatever the student changes it to is local revision.
In yet another essay, a student rearranges, adds, and subtracts sentences and paragraphs, creating a very different essay. This is an example of radical revision.