Discussion Topic- EN 121
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EN121RevisingandEditingYourResearchPaper1.pptRevising and Editing Your Research Paper
Courtesy of Lake- Sumter State College
Self-Revision
- In the revision step, focus on the following questions and strategies:
- Assignment requirements: Did you fulfill all the expectations for the assignment? Reread the directions to be sure.
Self-Revision
- Audience and purpose:
- Does your content take your audience and their skill levels into consideration?
- Have you fulfilled your initial purpose to inform, persuade, or convince your reader about a certain viewpoint?
Self-Revision
- Content and organization:
- Does the overall organization of the paper make sense logically? Review your outline again, if necessary.
- As you read your paper, revise content where necessary.
- Rearrange words and sentences for a stronger affect, and rewrite passages that may not be clear.
Self-Revision-Content and Organization
Introduction:
- Does your introduction catch the reader’s attention?
- You can catch your reader’s attention in a number of ways: by telling a story, providing a shocking statistic or quotation, or explaining an interesting fact.
- Have you included your thesis statement at the end of the introduction? Have you avoided jumping right into the arguments (the supporting evidence for the body of the paper)?
Self-Revision-Content and Organization
- Supporting details:
- Is each topic sentence thoroughly explained through the use of examples, reasons, facts, data, case studies, stories, and so forth?
Self-Revision-Content and Organization
- Conclusion:
- Does your conclusion neatly wrap up the paper while making an impact on the reader?
- Have you avoided simply repeating your introduction?
- You can say something interesting or memorable in your conclusion, but again, avoid using the conclusion to add new information or to support your thesis.
Self-Revision-Content and Organization
- Transitions:
- Have you used transitions to move readers smoothly from paragraph to paragraph; from sentence to sentence; and from your own writing into quotations, paraphrases, or summaries?
Self-Revision
- Unity and coherence:
- Does every paragraph have a topic sentence? Do all the supporting paragraphs relate to this one main idea? Is the writing clear, concise, and understandable?
Self-Revision
- Tone and vocabulary:
- Are your voice and tone consistent throughout the paper? Your paper needs to be written from a third-person point of view (no I or you pronouns) and without slang or contractions.
- To create a more lively tone, try writing a variety of sentence types.
- Replace words that are too advanced for your audience, not descriptive enough, or vague.
Self-Revision
- Documentation:
- Does every paraphrase, summary, and quotation have an in-text citation?
- Are all references cited in the paper also listed on a references page at the end of the paper? It may help to print your paper and highlight all the passages that include sources to ensure each citation has a corresponding reference.
Self-Revision
- Paper formatting:
- Is the paper in American Psychological Association format?
- Did I follow Professor Hope’s instructions?
Self-Revision
- Title:
- Is the title of the paper catchy enough to make the audience want to read your paper?
- Not catchy: Boys and Girls in School
- Catchy: Closing the Gender Gap in Our Schools
Editing
- Editing is the final step in the revision process.
- Editing involves looking for technical errors in your paper such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation:
Editing
- Sentence structure:
- Have you avoided fragments (sentences that are too short because they do not constitute a complete thought) and run-ons (sentences that are too long because they continue without a proper punctuation mark or break)?
Editing
- Punctuation and capitalization:
- Are capital letters, periods, commas, apostrophes, and other punctuation marks used correctly?
Editing
- Spelling and word usage:
- Always use the spell-check tool on your computer.
- The spell-checker does not pick up every misspelled or misused word, so be sure to review your paper thoroughly for spelling errors.
Editing
- Inoffensive language:
- Be sure your writing refers to sex, race, gender, and religion equally and fairly.
