EDITING A LONG PAPER: STEPS TOWARD REVISION

The preliminary steps toward writing your paper include researching your topic, narrowing or expanding the topic into the required length, and writing your rough draft. After completing the rough draft, you write your assigned paper…and then what? It’s returned for further work. Why? All too often, that first "smooth-looking" paper is actually "rough draft #2 or #3"— especially if you write and also edit on your computer.

The paper may look great to you, but this is when the real work of writing begins: revision. You, the writer, are now your own editor and copy-editor. This time-consuming process can be broken into a series of steps.

Steps Toward Revision:

1.    Focus by writing the answer to two questions:

a.    What is this paper about?

b.    What main points must I make or include?

2.    Test your organization:

a.    Does the introductory paragraph contain a clear, strong thesis statement?

b.    Does the conclusion have a logical connection to the introductory paragraph?

c.    Does the conclusion fulfill the "promise" of the introduction?

          d.    Now, check the "body" of the paper, paragraph by paragraph: is there a topic sentence for each paragraph? Are the paragraphs arranged in logical order?

(to check for topic sentences: use a legal envelope to "underline" the first sentence in each paragraph. Read that sentence aloud. You can check the entire paper, paragraph by paragraph, for topic sentences and logical order.)

3.    Check (and recheck) your facts and citations.

4.    Use your computer wisely! Spell check and grammar check programs can help you find some surface errors, but these programs are notoriously unreliable.

5.    Print out an "editing" copy of your paper: read, edit, and revise your work off-screen before handing in your final copy.