Essay Editing Rules: How to Make your Paper Look Better

Editing any paper that has just been finished, is always an important step. In fact, it is one that has to be done, and done right. A student’s work quality is always dependent on what they turn in, not what they actually know. So, if the paper looks bad, then the student looks bad. Here are some tips to help edit any paper to make it look better.

  1. Edit in Sections, as You Go
  2. Step away from Your Work
  3. Wait a Day or Two
  4. Have Someone Else do the Final Edit

Edit in Sections, as You Go

Editing should be a running process. When the introduction is finished, do a quick edit of it, looking for errors and broken consistency. Then start the next section. If it is a long Work, like the Term Paper, or Thesis, then edit every two to three paragraphs. At this stage, do not try to do a complete edit, it will not work. Here it is just to keep the work under control, and reduce any errors. All that needs done, is a read through, and see if it sounds coherent, and if any spelling errors are also found, great. If not, that is why there is the final edit for.

Step away from Your Work

When the work is finished, step away from it, take a break. After a few hours, come back and read it looking for as many errors as can be found. This should be your first in depth edit. Look for spelling, grammar, and any consistency errors. Highlight them, and leave yourself notes about the error for later, and finish the piece. When the editing is done, then come back and correct the errors. Rewrite everything that needs corrected.

Wait a Day or Two

Now step away again, and don’t touch it for a couple of days, to get the whole thing out of your mind, and come back with a fresh head. Now do a second full edit, making highlights and notes as before. Then when the whole thing is completed, then come back and correct them. With a fresh head, and after a couple of days, when you read it, it will be more like the first time, and you’ll see a lot more if anything is wrong.

Have Someone Else do the Final Edit

If the student has a friend that is good at editing, or English, have them do the final edit. Or hire a service to edit the work, so it is not you doing the final edit. Either way, new eyes will see a lot more than the writer will

© copyright 2024| all rights reserved. ArtsBus.org

#