Guidelines for Revising your Draft

In revising your drafts, the following steps are necessary:

1- Check for adequacy of detail. Individual points must be clearly stated and well illustrated or documented. Make sure there is sufficient evidence to support your generalizations so the reader does not say "Is this really true?"

2- Check for clarity of expression. Have you used the right words? Are terms clearly defined? Many papers suffer from too much quotation, paraphrase, or summary and not enough explanation and comparison.

3- Check your paragraph structure. Each paragraph should coordinate, compare, or contrast a clear idea. Avoid short, choppy bits of unrelated information.

4- Check for clear attribution. If you are comparing two sources, make sure your reader knows which source you are referring to. Whenever you use words, phrases, or ideas from another source, explain what the source is.

5- Check for coherence. Make sure the reader understands the relationship between the different parts of the paper. Check the organization of the paper against your outline. Use "therefore," "nevertheless," or "for example" to help the reader understand your train of thought.

6- Check for clarity of over-all intention. Make sure your main points and conclusion are clearly stated, not just implied. If your conclusions are tentative or apply only under certain circumstances, then qualify your general statements with "possibly" or "suggests."

7- Edit your paper for proper spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and appearance. Read the paper aloud to see how it sounds, and ask a friend to proofread it for errors you have missed.