Self-Assessment/Additional tips

Additional Tips for Editing

If you are having trouble editing your work or are not sure where to start, follow the list below. There are some handy tactics to make the editing process seem less daunting and more bearable.

A) Try reading your paper in reverse (sentence by sentence), to make sure each sentence makes sense on its own.
B) Cut, don’t add! Every point, statement, question, or word should have a reason to be there.
C) Eliminate redundancies within sentences, and within your paper
D) Avoid the passive voice; it makes your sentences more long-winded than they should be.
E) Use the spell-check and grammar-check tools in your software, but not at the expense of doing this manually. These tools will spot things you miss, but you might spot things they miss too. Also, they are not always correct.

Finally, after you have edited your work, make sure you proofread and format the final copy. It is during this time that you should slowly re-read and compare your first draft to the final copy. Now, you can check the list of references used in your paper to make sure the information from them and your formatting is correct.