Quick Help: Guidelines for revising a research project

Quick Help: Guidelines for revising a research project

  • Take responses into account. Look at specific problems that reviewers think you need to solve or strengths you might capitalize on. For example, if reviewers showed great interest in one point but no interest in another, consider expanding the first and deleting the second.

  • Reconsider your original audience, purpose, and stance. How well have you appealed to your audience? Have you achieved your purpose? If your rhetorical stance toward your topic has changed, does your draft need to change, too?

  • Assess your research. Think about whether you have investigated the topic thoroughly and consulted materials with more than one point of view. Have you left out any important sources? Are the sources you use reliable and appropriate for your topic? Have you synthesized your research findings and drawn warranted conclusions?

  • Assess your genre and design. Does your research project fit with conventions for the genre (or depart from them purposefully)? Does the design serve your purpose? Make sure that images and media files support your argument, are clearly labeled, and are cited appropriately.

  • Gather additional material. If you need to strengthen any points, first check your notes to see whether you already have the necessary information. In some instances, you may need to do more research.

  • Decide what changes you need to make. List everything that you must do to perfect your draft. With your deadline in mind, plan your revision.

  • Rewrite your draft. Many writers prefer to revise first on paper rather than on a computer. However you choose to revise, be sure to save copies of each draft. Begin with the major changes, such as adding content or reorganizing. Then turn to sentence-level problems and word choice. Can you sharpen the work’s dominant impression?

  • Reevaluate the title, introduction, and conclusion. Is your title specific and engaging? Does the introduction capture readers’ attention and indicate what the work discusses? Does your conclusion help readers see the significance of your argument?

  • Check your documentation. For formal academic writing, make sure you’ve included a citation in your text for every quotation, paraphrase, summary, statistic, visual, and media file you incorporated and that you’ve followed your documentation style consistently.

  • Edit your draft. Check grammar, usage, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics. Consider the advice of computer spell checkers and grammar checkers carefully before accepting it.