You check to see that your essay moves logically from the introduction to the body paragraphs to the conclusion, and that each section reinforces your thesis. When you revise to improve organization, you look at the flow of ideas throughout the essay as a whole and within individual paragraphs. In a cohesive research paper, information from research is seamlessly integrated with the writer’s ideas. Cohesion means that the elements of your paper work together smoothly and naturally. Organization means that your argument flows logically from one point to the next. However, before you begin to address them, it is important to spend time reviewing and revising the content of the paper.Ī good research paper is both organized and cohesive. When writing a research paper, it is easy to become overly focused on editorial details, such as the proper format for bibliographical entries. Revising Your Paper: Organization, Cohesion, and Unity To do this, you need to teach yourself where to look. You also need to train your eye and trust your ability to fix what needs fixing. However, as a writer and a thinker, you need to learn to be critical of yourself in a positive way and have high expectations for your work. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied? Why?įor many people, the words critic, critical, and criticism provoke only negative feelings that make them blush, grumble, or shout. Set aside your writing for a few hours or even a day until you can look at it objectively.Īsk someone you trust for feedback and constructive criticism. You are proud of what you wrote, but you might be too close to it to make changes. Try them throughout the writing process then keep using the ones that bring results. How do you get the best out of your revisions and editing? Here are some strategies that writers have developed to look at their first drafts from a fresh perspective. You make your essay into a polished, mature piece of writing, the end product of your best efforts. You fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. When you edit, you take a second look at how you expressed your ideas. You might add, cut, move, or change information in order to make your ideas clearer, more accurate, more interesting, or more convincing. When you revise, you take a second look at your ideas. Revising and editing allow you to examine two important aspects of your writing separately, so that you can give each task your undivided attention. Understanding the Purpose of Revising and Editing Also at the end of the chapter, you will see a comprehensive but more general list of things you should be looking for. In the second section of this chapter, you will focus more on editing: correcting the mechanical issues. For example, you will first look at how the overall paper and your ideas are organized. Throughout this chapter, you will see a number of checklists containing specific things to look for with each revision. If each time you review your essay you focus on a different aspect of construction, you will be more likely to catch any mistakes or identify any issues. You should revise and edit in stages: do not expect to catch everything in one go. Writing has the same capacity to profit from improvement and revision. Web designers seek better images, a more clever design, or a more appealing background for their web pages. For both athletes and dancers, the more they practise, the stronger their performance will become. Dancers forget steps, turn too slowly, or miss beats. You may know that athletes miss catches, fumble balls, or overshoot goals. However, even experienced writers need to improve their drafts and rely on peers during revising and editing. You may think that a completed first draft means that little improvement is needed. Both are very important elements of the writing process. Revising and editing are the two tasks you undertake to significantly improve your essay.
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