Improving Your Term Paper: The Editing Process

Executive Summary

Many students, exhausted by the process of researching and writing a term paper, make the common mistake of quickly printing it off and submitting it immediately. This overlooks one simple truth of term paper writing: all term papers can be improved, and this improvement almost always leads to a better grade.

This report will present an overview of the editing and revision process for term papers, highlighting key stages in this process and detailing how these may contribute to a ber term paper and, ultimately, to a better grade.

Re-vision

An old saying of editors is that “revision means re-vision.” What this means is looking at a draft with a “fresh” pair of eyes; something that may be accomplished by putting the draft aside for some time – ranging from hours to days – doing something else, and then returning to re-read the draft. Almost always, this process will allow the student to see mistakes – in spelling, grammar, structure, and/or content – that would not have been seen otherwise.

Flow

This is a key structural consideration. When you read your essay, look at the points between paragraphs and sections. Are there transitions between these sections, with the ending of one logically flowing into the beginning of the next? Are your quotes, especially the longer ones, properly introduced in the body of the text? For example:

As one critic argues, with respect to the role of film as a cross-cultural laboratory:

Learning about stereotypes, ethnocentrism, discrimination, and acculturation in the abstract can be flat and uninspiring. But if we experience intercultural contact with our eyes and ears, we begin to understand it.

(Summerfield 1)

Quotes of three lines or longer should be set off in block format from the rest of the text. They should also be introduced by a few words prior to the quote – as in the above example, with the words “As one critic argues” - and thus better integrated into the overall argument.

Thesis

Upon re-reading, do you think you argued your thesis bly enough? This is not simply a value judgement. Look at the first sentence of every paragraph in the paper: the topic sentence. This sentence should introduce what will occur in the following paragraph, while relating back to the thesis statement. If, in re-reading the paper, you find you are not doing this, then this may indicate a weakness in your term paper.

Documentation

A term paper requires, in most cases, substantial research of scholarly literature. Remember, almost everything you say in a term paper should be backed up with a scholarly citation or reference. You can never have too many citations – usually indicated through parenthetical format (author, year, page) or in footnotes/endnotes – as these are the visible sign to your professor of the depth of your research. If you do not indicate the source of your ideas, this opens you to charges of plagiarism or stealing others’ writing/ideas and presenting them as your own.

Screen vs. Page

Most editors prefer to edit the printed page rather than on screen. This is because it is easier to get a visual sense of the whole term paper in printed form than on a screen, where you are restricted to viewing one or two pages at a time. A visual overview of the pages of the term paper can reveal problems:

- Do you have too many, or too few, citations/references? There should be, at minimum, one per page.

- Are your paragraphs of appropriate length? A paragraph should be comprised of more than two sentences.

- Are there too many quotations? Is your paper almost entirely other peoples’ words?

Be Hard on Yourself

Being self-critical of your term paper writing carries rewards in the form of high grades. In re-reading, imagine yourself as a hostile reader with a grudge against you. A willingness to see the flaws in your own writing, instead of overlooking or defending them, is essential to good editing.