College students learning to write their first research paper already know that editing the first draft will be the most tedious part of the process. The process can be discouraging at times, especially for students who are just getting used to academic writing at the college and graduate level. Editing, however, is a vital step in creating an effective piece of writing; a badly edited paper usually fetches low grades and fails to communicate its intended message. In fact, it is a truism that behind every A+ paper is an accomplished editor.
While the term “editing” sounds a bit intimidating, it actually helps an author refine their paper – it builds upon the paper’s strengths and removes distractions that disrupt the flow of thoughts and ideas. These distractions come in the form of grammatical and spelling errors, bad word choice, poor paragraph structure, lack of clarity, inadequate background information, unreliable or unverified source material, faulty citations or a complete absence of acknowledgement of sources, etc.
Steps in the Editing Process
Before authors start making changes to a paper, it is important that they understand the difference between the terms “revising,” “editing,” and “proofreading” – while all of these are part of the overall editing process, each has a different focus.
1. Revising
During this process, the author looks at a piece of writing from a fresh, critical perspective and often rearranges, removes, and/or replaces content. While revising, ideas and arguments are rethought, evidence is reviewed, the presentation of ideas and arguments is reorganized, stale prose is revived, and the purpose of writing is refined. Revision (the word literally means “to see again”) looks at the “big picture” that the paper is trying to focus on.
2. Editing
This process takes place after the paper has been revised. While editing a paper, the author takes a closer look at how information has been presented in the document; it helps make the document more comprehensible and better organized and tailors it to suit the audience. The editing process also focuses on removing errors but it is mainly about ensuring that the document makes sense as a whole.
3. Proofreading
Proofreading the final draft is a practice that focuses on issues pertaining to spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax, and formatting. It ensures consistency and accuracy within a document and is usually the last step taken before turning in an essay or otherwise sharing a document with its intended audience. By the time a paper reaches the proofreading stage, it should have been edited already – it should already be well written, logically organized, coherent, and easily comprehensible.
Tips and Strategies for Effective Editing
Learning how to edit research papers should be on every student’s to-do list. So, here are some great tips to help students improve their editing skills.
1. Creating an Outline
Once the first draft is ready, the author should set it aside and create a quick outline of what they expect the paper to accomplish. Doing this helps ensure a logical progression of ideas throughout the document and that the document stays on topic from beginning to end. The form of the outline does not matter, as long as the author is clear about what they set out to do and can compare the outline to the document.
2. Reading for Structure
Once the outline is ready and the author has revised sections that needed a little boost, they must attempt intentional reading. Intentional or structured reading involves taking a close look at the overall structure, flow, and organization of the paper. Like the process of revision, structured reading looks at the big picture and confirms if the paper accomplishes the goals set by the author. During the read-through, the author must ask the following questions:
- Does each section of the paper support the thesis?
- Does each section link back to the thesis in the same way?
- Do the content and format of the paper fit the requirements of the assignment?
- Does the paper contain adequate background information about the topic?
- Do the sentences flow smoothly in each paragraph?
- Does the tone of each sentence complement the rest of the paper? Is the tone professional and straightforward throughout the paper?
- Do the paragraphs flow logically with smooth transitions?
- Does the document have a consistent style and tone throughout?
- Does the paper use a variety of reliable academic resources to support its ideas?
- Does the paper use direct quotes from source materials more often than paraphrasing them?
- Does the paper consistently adhere to the appropriate style manual (for both references and in-text citations)?
- Does the conclusion briefly summarize the information in the paper and imply that there is more to discuss about the topic?
A structured reading of the paper from a broader perspective will help the author identify areas that don’t flow well together. Once the author is sure that all above points have been covered, they can move on to the next step.
3. Checking Grammar and Punctuation
The next step in the editorial process is to examine the details – spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. The author must ask the following questions while reading the document from this perspective:
- Are all the words spelt correctly?
- Are all punctuation marks used accurately and consistently?
- Are all citations formatted correctly?
- Is the vocabulary appropriate for the topic?
- Does the document maintain verb-tense consistency in each sentence?
- Does the argument contain too many clichés?
Additionally, the following strategies will help authors produce better papers in terms of grammar, syntax, and punctuation:
- Using strong verbs
Weak – There is disagreement among educationists about the benefits of technology in the classroom.
Strong – Educationists disagree about the benefits of technology in the classroom.
- Using active voice
Passive – It has been alleged that Asian-Americans are discriminated against in Harvard’s admission process. (Who alleges this?)
Active – Activist Edward Blum has alleged that Asian-Americans are discriminated against in Harvard’s admission process.
- Eliminating redundant adjectives and adverbs
major breakthrough → breakthrough
at this point in time → now
a large proportion of → many
serious danger → danger
- Checking for common mistakes
its vs. it’s
comprises vs. comprises of
regardless of vs. irregardless
complement vs. compliment
4. Reading Aloud
This trick helps authors catch things they might have missed when they read silently. If they stumble over a section, it probably has issues that need to be addressed. Authors can then choose to correct as they go or mark it for later.
Once the document has been edited, the author can ask someone else to look at it. They might decide to do peer editing and trade papers with a classmate and exchange feedback, or they might decide to hire a copy editor for a professionally edited paper.
The process of writing a college paper does not end with the first draft, even though most people wish it would.
As the student-author writes more papers and becomes familiar with the editing process, they will be able to recognize the errors they tend to make most often. They will also get a better idea of their preferred style of writing. With practice, the editing process will get easier. While students may not catch all errors during the process, they will certainly eliminate silly mistakes that turn a potential A+ paper into a paper that gets a B or a C.
