Revising and Editing

For advice on integrating sources and avoiding plagiarism, see Ch. 34.

For more revising and editing strategies, see Ch. 23.

Looking over your draft, you may find your essay changing. Don’t be afraid to develop a whole new interpretation, shift the organization, strengthen your evidence, drop a section, or add a new one.

REVISION CHECKLIST

See more on using your own voice.

  • Have you said something original, not just heaped up statements by others? Does your voice interpret and unify so your ideas dominate, not your sources?
  • Is your thesis (main idea) clear? Do all your points support your main idea? Does all your evidence support your points?
  • Does each new idea follow from the one before it? Can you see any stronger arrangement? Have you used transitions to connect the parts?
  • Do you need more — or better — evidence to back up any point? If so, where might you find it?
  • Are the words that you quote truly memorable? Are your paraphrases and summaries accurate and clear? Have you launched everything?
  • Is the source of every quotation, fact, or idea unmistakably clear?

After you have revised your research paper, edit and proofread it. Carefully check the grammar, word choice, punctuation, and mechanics — and then correct any problems. Check your documentation, too — how you identify sources and how you list the works you have cited.

Peer Response: Writing Your Research Paper

See general questions for a peer editor.

Have a classmate or friend read your draft and suggest how you might make your paper more informative, tightly reasoned, and interesting. Ask your peer editor to answer questions such as these about writing from sources:

  • What is your overall reaction to this paper?
  • What is the research question? Does the writer answer that question?
  • How effective is the opening? Does it draw you into the paper?
  • How effective is the conclusion? Does it merely restate the introduction? Is it too abrupt or too hurried?
  • Is the organization logical and easy to follow? Are there any places where the essay is hard to follow?
  • Do you know which ideas are from the writer and which from sources?
  • Does the writer need all the quotations he or she has used?
  • Do you have any questions about the writer’s evidence or the conclusions drawn from the evidence? Point out any areas where the writer has not fully backed up his or her conclusions.
  • If this paper were yours, what is the one thing you would be sure to work on before handing it in?

EDITING CHECKLIST

See the relevant checklist sections in the Quick Editing Guide for more help. See also to the Quick Format Guide,.

For more on documentation, see Ch. 36 (MLA), Ch. 37 (APA), or the Quick Research Guide, beginning on p. A-20.

Have you used commas correctly, especially in complicated sentences that quote or refer to sources? C1
Have you punctuated quotations correctly? C3
Have you used capital letters correctly, especially in titles of sources? D1
Have you used correct manuscript form? D3
Have you used correct documentation style?