WRITING AN

ACADEMIC PAPER
* REVISE THE ACADEMIC
PAPER
* WRITING THE FINAL
DRAFT
DR. RAJA MORGAN VEERAPPAN

REVISE THE PAPER

Revising your paper offers an opportunity to
eliminate errors to improve quality and
outlook.
Most lecturers use existence of errors in
academic works as evidence to award poor
marks or low grades.
Make sure to self-revise by continuously
checking drafts, until submission.
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Tips to Revise
There are several tips to revise
an academic paper.
You may follow these tips to
revise your academic paper. They
are simple, systematic and
workable.

Tip 1:
Revise every time you write a
draft
Elimination of grammatical errors, errors
in sentence structure, errors related to
phrases, or formatting errors,
proofreading takes time.
It is important to improve your paper
each time a draft is written. This means
you have minimal cares for revision in
the subsequent drafts.
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Tip 2:
Use the right procedure for
revision
The right procedure is starting with the
overall organization of the document,
then checking content in paragraphs and
finally checking sentence by sentence.
This is extremely important for several
page documents such as dissertations,
research papers, research proposals and
thesis.
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Tip 3: Revise to details

Using the procedure above helps completely
refine the paper. The following points highlight
components you need to improve on in the
document.
Globally, make sure there is logical flow of
content in each section.
For paragraphs, make sure each has a topic
sentence or lead sentence. Make sure it is
supported by other sentences.
Make sure there is logical in transitions
between paragraphs. 6

Tip 3: Revise to details (Cont)

As far as line editing is concerned, make sure all
terminologies are correctly used.
Make sure there is no use of colloquial language.
Check for clarity and brevity.
For other issues, make sure all sources cited are
referenced. Make sure the citations are correct
according to the style specified. Check line
spacing.
Make sure the document is easy to read, with or
with rare terminology.
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Tip 4:
Revise the document twice at
least
It is hard to check out all errors in a
single rereading. In fact, some errors
are invisible after a single proofreading.
It is normal to use citation guides open
book when revising the work, especially
in relation to reference citation,
referencing, formatting and structuring
the whole content.
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Steps for Revising Your

Paper

When you have plenty of time to revise, use the time

to work on your paper and to take breaks from writing.
If you can forget about your draft for a day or two, you
may return to it with a fresh outlook. During the
revising process, put your writing aside at least twice
once during the first part of the process, when you
are reorganizing your work, and once during the
second part, when you are polishing and paying
attention to details.
Use the following questions to evaluate your drafts.
You can use your responses to revise your papers by
reorganizing them to make your best points stand out,
by adding needed information, by eliminating
irrelevant information, and by clarifying sections or
sentences.
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Writing Your paper

Find your main point.
What are you trying to say in the paper? In other words,
try to summarize your thesis, or main point, and the
evidence you are using to support that point. Try to
imagine that this paper belongs to someone else. Does
the paper have a clear thesis? Do you know what the
paper is going to be about?
Identify your readers and your purpose.
What are you trying to do in the paper? In other words,
are you trying to argue with the reading, to analyze the
reading, to evaluate the reading, to apply the reading
to another situation, or to accomplish another goal?
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Writing Your paper (cont)

Evaluate your evidence.
Does the body of your paper support your thesis? Do you offer
enough evidence to support your claim? If you are using
quotations from the text as evidence, did you cite them
properly?
Save only the good pieces.
Do all of the ideas relate back to the thesis? Is there anything
that doesn't seem to fit? If so, you either need to change your
thesis to reflect the idea or cut the idea.
Tighten and clean up your language.
Do all of the ideas in the paper make sense? Are there unclear
or confusing ideas or sentences? Read your paper out loud and
listen for awkward pauses and unclear ideas. Cut out extra
words, vagueness, and misused words.
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Writing Your paper (cont)

Eliminate mistakes in grammar and usage.
Do you see any problems with grammar, punctuation,
or spelling? If you think something is wrong, you should
make a note of it, even if you don't know how to fix it.
You can always talk to a Writing Lab tutor about how to
correct errors.
Switch from writer-centered to reader-centered.
Try to detach yourself from what you've written;
pretend that you are reviewing someone else's work.
What would you say is the most successful part of your
paper? Why? How could this part be made even better?
What would you say is the least successful part of your
paper? Why? How could this part be improved?
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General
Write the draft paper
View again the complete paper for its
content
Review complete paper for citation,
referencing, & formatting errors
Proofread the paper for grammar,
spelling, & punctuation errors
Write the final paper (full / complete
paper)
Submit paper
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Writing the Complete

paper
Build or write based on the draft
Elaborate deeper on points & ideas as
appropriate or necessary
Expand each section of the paper to
the preferred or required length
If it is required, write the abstract
Format paper correctly

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TUTORIAL TASKS

Group Work
In groups discuss write a short academic paper.
(You may use examples given in the previous week)
Revise the draft of this academic paper
Edit and write the final draft
Individual
Use the library resources or surf the Internet for
more examples.

References:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/
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