How do you know when you are finished writing a paper? Some—professional writers, for instance, or painters or other artists (writers included)—have trouble putting down their pens or brushes because they are always touching up certain things. Check out the late Leonard Cohen’s beautiful poem, A Kite is a Victim, where he grapples with the uncontrollable elements of life and art, if you are looking for literature on the topic. He, and you, know that your work can always be better. However, before handing in your writing, be it fiction or non, there are four areas of review you should focus your attention.
Have You Completed the Task?
The first, and perhaps most important, issue to look at when editing your writing is simple: Did you answer the question appropriately and fully? An easy way to tell if you have is to find your main idea or thesis statement. If your thesis is more than a sentence or two, you are in trouble. Having an overly wordy and long thesis statement means you haven’t fully thought through your ideas enough to put it simply. There is a balance between too simple and too complex, however, so don’t fall into the trap that simple is best. Consider it a yin and yang relationship, the overly simple fighting the overly complex. Also, ensure that your thesis directly answers the essay question. If it doesn’t… Well, you have a lot of editing to do.
One more thing to look for when editing for task achievement is good topic sentences with relevant details. I am a big fan of putting topic sentences first, so that it is the first sentence in any/every paragraph. Doing so makes reading your paper easy and straight-forward. And, as an added benefit, the organization of your paragraphs is easy to edit. One editing strategy I have used in the past that has been very effective has been to highlight (or underline) my thesis statement, and then to draw a line from it to each topic sentence. If there is a logical connection between the two ideas, I know I am on the right track. If not, I revise and edit the topic sentences to relate more effectively to my thesis. I may even need to change some of the details in those paragraphs. I know it is annoying and time consuming, but you risk going off-topic if your topic sentences do not logically relate to your thesis. Next!
Have You Achieved Continuity?
If task completion is about information, task continuity is about organization. So, once you know you have answered the task fully, it’s time to look at how you organized your information. Basically, make sure that your paragraphs follow some kind of logical flow. Here are just a couple ways you can organize your information: Chronological (time), order of importance (increasing OR decreasing (like this one)), cause and effect, or topical/by classification. Now is the time to reorganize your paragraphs if they do not follow any of the given styles. Oh, and make sure you pick an appropriate style for your essay. If you are telling a story, make sure you go chronological. If you are classifying species, use topical. Just pick one that fits.
Another great editing tactic relating to continuity is your use of transition devices. Transition words are words like ‘therefore,’ ‘however,’ and even words like ‘and,’ or ‘but.’ These words are used to show the relationships between ideas and are, therefore, extremely useful. Basically, if you lack transition words, you will lose marks. If you use transition words to preview your ideas or to show the relationship between ideas, you will have a better essay on your hands. So use transitions. As an exercise, try and find all the transition words I have used in this essay and see how many you come up with!
Vocabulary/Tone
At this point, you should have already determined that your essay answers the question fully, is on topic, and uses logical organization with transition devices. Now, you get to cherry pick your vocabulary to ensure you have achieved the correct tone. You should be looking at the big 4: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Do not—I repeat—do not overuse adverbs (words that modify verbs and adjectives). Adverbs often add nothing of value to an argument; instead, adverbs give the impression of an emotional appeal, something you want to stay away from in an academic setting. In literature and fiction, by all means, use adverbs. Just limit their use in academic papers. If you want to improve the punching power of your vocabulary, increase the power of your nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Pick stronger words that suit the tone you wish to achieve.
Grammar Range
Grammar is the final, perhaps least important, editing strategy to use. Make sure all your subjects and verbs agree (look in the archives if you don’t know what this is). Ensure you have no sentence fragments or comma splices or run-on sentences or the like. One thing I like to do is vary my sentence length and complexity. Have some short and some long. Try experimenting with different sentence structures to see if they work. You can always use that handy “undo” button if you don’t like what you see. Grammar is a great way to imprint your own personal style on an essay. Find structures you enjoy using and master them!
As you know, letting go of a project and handing it in is hard to do. But if you follow these steps, cutting the tether becomes a little bit easier. Make sure you answer the question fully and accurately, organize your paragraphs into topics and details, order them appropriately and use transition words, pick the best, most effective words while limiting your adverbs, and use grammar to increase the effectiveness of your writing. Follow these steps to edit your papers and see the positive results come in.