Revising for Organization
In order to be most effective, a paper should be organized so that readers can easily follow your main idea. During the drafting stage, your aim was to create and then flesh out an outline based on your thesis statement. Now it is time to review how that draft turned out. First, consider some important questions about your thesis statement:
Using Your Thesis as an Organizer
- Have I clearly laid out my main point in a thesis statement?
- Does my thesis control the paper? Do my topic sentences help my paragraphs show, explain, or prove my thesis?
- Have I delivered on my thesis? That is, did I do everything it indicated I would do? If not, should I narrow or adjust my thesis?
- Or, if my paper does not deliver on my thesis, should I add more to my paper so that it does everything I indicated I would do?
Next, think about the sequence of the different paragraphs within your paper.
Organizing Your Paragraphs
- Do I have an introduction that alerts readers to my specific purpose and my thesis?
- Does each paragraph revolve around a single main point?
- Do my paragraphs build on each other? Does each have a clear connection to the one before and after it? If not, can I rearrange paragraphs, add words or sentences to clarify connections, or delete paragraphs that do not fit?
- Within paragraphs, does each sentence relate to the one before and after it? Does each sentence in the paragraph relate to its topic sentence or main idea?
- Does the conclusion merely summarize? If so, what else could I do to give a sense of closure?
Transitional Words and Phrases
To help you clarify the connections between sentences, consider using transitional words and phrases like these:
| Also |
for example |
in fact |
| as a matter of fact |
for instance |
in short |
| as a result |
furthermore |
indeed |
| as I said earlier |
however |
nevertheless |
| Consequently |
in addition |
next |
| Finally |
in brief |
therefore |
| First |
in comparison |
to sum up |