Academic Paper Research Editing Guide
Even gifted writers are not able to create papers that are scored by top grades without correcting them. Remember, it's impossible to compose top-grade writing if you underestimate the importance of editing research papers. A lot of learners spend most of their time and effort on composing excellent assignments. Consequently, they spend little time checking some typos and misspellings in their writings. Such articles have poor chances of being scored by As because they likely need many other improvements.
However, the importance of editing your research is very high. Assignments that are hard to read, contain grammar errors, answer the research question, or contain pieces of matched content may be rejected. The entire polishing process is complicated and involves a lot of different stages. If you won't be satisfied with your writings scored by Bs, scroll down below and find the top tips to help you discover how to edit a paper properly.
How To Edit Your Paper: Create Convenient Environment
First of all, you need to create a convenient environment that will help you focus on one task. You should allocate enough time for assignment correcting. Otherwise, you will miss a lot of mistakes to correct, being short on time. By eliminating the need to do everything in a rush, you will be able to examine all the aspects of your writing and polish them professionally. Next, you need to eliminate any possible distractions that will draw your attention out of editing a research paper. Feel free to enable the Do Not Disturb mode on your smartphone. After this, you will stop receiving annoying notifications from different apps. However, important calls won't be missed.
The perfect environment for paper correction should also imply zero distraction sounds. It's forbidden to listen to your favorite show in the background while revising a paper or examining articles. You need to switch off all electronics that may draw away your attention. In case you have noisy neighbors, feel free to get headphones and listen to fast-paced music. It may help you keep focused on one task and improve your performance. In addition, you may close curtains and install app-blocking software on your computer to eliminate the ability to open any apps for entertainment.
Revise A Paper - Check Out Compliance With Guidelines
In most cases, tutors provide particular requirements, assigning papers. They specify the number of pages, maximum word count, formatting styles, and what an essay needs to imply. So, how to revise a paper? The list of requirements is always straightforward, so all the points are obligatory to follow for students. Papers that don't meet particular criteria may be rejected or scored by low grades.
Note, professors pay close attention to examine if all the standards are met. Therefore, you need to read the instructions thoroughly and check if every point from a list is met. Pay close attention to formatting and title page of papers. Also, you need to check if everything is documented properly. In case you don't cite all the sources properly, you may face charges of plagiarism.
Indeed, any research writing has to answer the main questions on how to edit research papers in the right way and imply clear arguments. While editing academic papers, you need to pay close attention to the thesis statements and conclusion. Try to check if the outcome answers the research question of the research topic properly. Also, you need to check the arguments. They need to support your point of view. If there is no direct answer to our research question, you need to update your writing and find reliable sources.
How to Edit Research Paper: Examine Most Common Errors
If you always conduct the same errors, create a list with them and spot the most widespread misspellings in your papers. For instance, if you experience any issues with apostrophe usage, screen your writing and examine the potential problem first. Then, you need to keep editing academic tasks by eliminating the most widespread errors that other people conduct. A lot of students tend to write run-on sentences that are similar to blocks with text. It's recommended to divide long sentences by punctuation marks. Unfortunately, the incorrect placement of modifiers is also a very popular mistake. Nevertheless, there are also a lot of errors that undergraduates make regularly. According to the research conducted by Stanford University.
How to edit research papers - the list of the top grammar errors:
- vague pronoun reference;
- unnecessary capitalization;
- missing words;
- lack of hyphens;
- overused exclamation marks;
- incomplete documentation.
Research Editing: Improve Readability for Proper Paper Correction
A perfect article has to be easy to read. The flow should be smooth to help readers consume the information effortlessly. For starters, you need to check out a paper's structure to find out if it matches the outline from the introduction and methods section to the conclusion and results. If you discover that some points are missed, you need to write new paragraphs. Even though your writing has to be straightforward and highlight scientific facts, it shouldn't be boring. You need to make your assignments concise and interesting, editing a paper.
Feel free to split sentences, making them easy to read and understand. Also, break up large blocks of texts into paragraphs and add transition words to improve the flow. Try to get rid of complicated terms. They will confuse readers and make them refer to a dictionary frequently. Otherwise, they may get bored and lose engagement. If there is no option to replace complicated terms, don't be shy about explaining them to the general audience.
Take Breaks Regularly Editing Research Papers
It's highly recommended to take breaks to edit your writing professionally. For starters, you should have some rest after finishing the first draft. If you have plenty of spare time, feel free to postpone the editing paper process to the next day or take a nap. You need to get rid of stress and refresh your mind. Also, you can watch some videos, do exercises, walk outside, or play video games to get distracted from writing.
It is one of the most unobvious tips for research paper editing that may increase your performance significantly. Feel free to use the Pomodoro technique to manage your breaks like a pro. It needs you to set a 25-minute timer. During this time, you need to edit your assignment with no interruptions. When the timer stops, take a 5-minute break. Also, take large 30-minute breaks after finishing every fourth 25-minute session.
Use Online Tools for Revising a Paper
These days, students always use the help of different software and online tools to get rid of mistakes in assignments fast. They help save tons of time by flagging misspellings that have to be corrected. It's recommended to use Microsoft Word or Google Docs for composing and editing academic writings. These apps are the most popular text editors that foresee the ability to format papers with no hassle. Also, they flag any typos simultaneously and offer the correct words within a click. It's advised to use Google Docs because it saves all the information in a cloud simultaneously. In case you tend to use the Microsoft Word application for composing papers, enable the auto-saving feature not to lose progress in case of an accidental issue.
After finishing your assignment, use third-party services to find any possible mistakes fast. Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and WhiteSmoke are industry leaders that help eliminate most grammar errors. Besides, these tools offer suggestions that can help improve the readability of your writings. Since all papers that students submit have to be 100% original, you should check the level of plagiarism in your assignment. DupliChecker, Copyleaks, and Paper Rater are the most popular tools used by universities to detect copied content.
Editing A Research Paper: Proofread Thoroughly
Even though the modern tools for checking and editing research writings can make your writings almost perfect, they still may miss some mistakes or provide incorrect suggestions. If you want to polish it properly, you need to read your assignment a lot of times thoroughly. First of all, you should read it backward. This technique will force you to focus on the words only.
After examining spelling, you will need to read the entire paper a few times. Feel free to do it loud. By saying every word, you won't be able to examine your writings in a rush, which may lower the quality of proofreading. Note that you have to check your articles from the readers' perspective, figuring out if they are clear enough and easy to understand for your target audience. You ought to be self-critical and always correct any pieces of text that don't look satisfying.
