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CU Scarborough - Academic Skills: Checking, Proofing & Redrafting

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Revision

Revision

Revision is the process of making changes to your draft assignment. This process involves: 

Re-developing and re-drafting paragraphs, sections of your paper’s main body, and parts of your introduction and conclusion. 

Check the clarity of your argument and the logic of your paper’s structure.

Possibly move sections around or redraft certain areas to strengthen your paper’s argument or organisation.
 

Tips

Ask a friend to read your draft and comment on the quality of your thesis statement/statement of argument and supporting points in the light of the assignment brief.

After writing a draft of your assignment, give yourself a few days, then look again at the criteria and re-reread the draft you have written. Redraft for logic, evidence, and thoroughness of explanations.

Read your draft aloud to yourself. If you find an awkward-sounding sentence it might be grammatically incorrect and may need re-wording.

 

Revision Checklist

Revision Checklist

Use the questions below to check your work. 

Guidance

•Does the paper you are writing answer all parts of the assignment brief?

•Have you formulated a clear thesis statement/statement of argument?

•Have you included convincing evidence for each key point?

•Have you given a full explanation of each point?

•Have you pitched your writing style appropriate for the intended reader of this paper?

Introduction

•Have you written the introduction in an attention-grabbing way?

•Have you provided enough contextual information to introduce your topic to your reader?

•Have you defined key terms?

•Have you narrowed and focused on the topic?

•Have you introduced your main sub-sections?

•Have you included the thesis statement/statement of argument?

Main Body

•Have you created a strong thread of argument throughout your paper connecting the individual points/paragraphs to your thesis statement/ statement of argument?

•If your paper is a long essay/assignment, have you created clear sub-sections? Is each introduced and summed up, with transition sentences linking each sub-section?

•Have you given evidence to support each point, with thorough explanations?

•Have you provided clear in-text citations for all sources?

Conclusion

•Is the thesis statement/statement of argument reiterated and developed at the end of the main body section, just prior to the conclusion?

•Are the main points that you made in the sub-sections of the paper’s main body summed up here?

•Are your conclusions opened out to apply to industry or professional practice if appropriate?

 

Editing

Editing

•Grammar

•Typing mistakes

•Your presentation: typeface, font size (12-point Arial)

•Language: is it formal enough?

•Register: is the style suitable for your audience (your tutor, who is an expert in the field)?

•Your sentence construction and variety of sentence length

Spelling

•Pay close attention to your spelling – ensure you are using the correct English settings in your WORD document.

•You can prove this by using the spell check feature. Review > Spelling & Grammar

Punctuation

•Does your writing have any run-on sentences?

•Does your writing have incidents of comma splice?

•Do sentences begin with capital letters?

Common Mistakes

Problems with writing and how to solve them.

Adapted from Bernoff, J. (2016). Writing without the Bullshit: Fix & Cure Common Writing Flaws. https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/ld.php?content_id=32872506

Resources

Resources