| By Tara Shekouri |
Editing is an essential step in writing a research paper, helping to ensure cohesiveness, accuracy, and clarity—ultimately improving the quality of your piece. Editing involves not only addressing spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, but it also improves the structure and writing style to ensure that the information is communicated in the most effective manner. The editing process is a rather elaborate and intensive one that involves plenty of time, effort, and attention to detail. While it is a process that can be done on one’s own, it is helpful to have another individual who offers a fresh lens, read through and pick up on any areas that need modification.
Clarity and Cohesiveness
One of the first areas one should look out for when editing their research paper is clear and correct language. This involves fixing any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax—as well as searching for and addressing any run-on sentences and unnecessarily long paragraphs. Furthermore, you want to maintain an academic tone throughout your paper, so correct any informal language and ensure relevant and proper terminology.
Formatting and Style
You want your finished paper to appear clean and consistent. It's important to check for uniformity in capitalization, headings and subheadings, font size, and typeface throughout your research paper. Furthermore, ensure that the layout of visual elements (such as graphs and diagrams) is consistent and that they don’t hinder the flow of the paper, but support the text instead. Another step that is critical is making sure that only a single referencing type is used, and any potential errors within the citations are fixed (such as missing publication dates or uncapitalized author names).
Content Quality
It’s essential to verify that all the information conveyed contributes to the overall purpose and argument of the research paper. This entails removing any repetitive or redundant sentences. If you find that parts of your research paper go off track and into information that weakens the paper, remove them. Remember that more is not always more, and to be concise is sometimes the way to go.
Logical Structure
It is key that the information being provided is structured in a way that makes most sense. Look out for any gaps in your content as well as any logical flaws and address them. Picture the reader, for whom the topic and content may be unfamiliar. You want to guide them smoothly though your piece without them having to assume or come to conclusions themselves. Ensure that each section of the paper supports the overall thesis and builds upon the previous sections in a straightforward and logical manner.
Tip: Space Out Your Editing
Before editing your research paper, allow yourself a few days to detach from it. Doing so will ensure that you return to the paper with fresh eyes and a clearer perspective, making it easier to spot errors and inconsistencies. Furthermore, editing in chunks—such as addressing clarity and cohesiveness one day and formatting and style a couple of days later—can help you focus more effectively on each aspect of the paper.
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