Editing & Polishing your Assignment Mel Kinchant Academic Skills Adviser academicskills@napier.ac.uk

Editing is concerned with … Revision and rewriting (if necessary). In light of the assignment brief, this is where you examine your content and the presentation of your argument. Polishing is concerned with … Proofreading (spelling & grammar) and presentation (formatting details; is it professional?) Both of these are important!

Why Redraft, Revise, Proofread? First drafts are always messy. The redrafting, revising, proofreading process is your opportunity to perfect & polish your work. It is often the stage of the academic writing process which is left out because students run out of time. It can however, make a real difference to the standard of your work and help you to gain a higher mark. When you are planning your time it is really important to ensure that you have sufficient time for editing and polishing your work. To do it properly requires time. If possible you should leave a good space of time between finishing your final draft and fully proofreading your work. This will allow you to be more objective about your own piece of writing.

Create a checklist … Base this on generic aspects (such as spelling, referencing) that you should check with all assignments and then add specific things that you need to check for the particular assignment that you are working on (refer to the assignment guidelines and marking criteria). Create a list of each aspect that you need to check and tick them off when you have checked each one and you are happy with it!

Your checklist might include for example … Does it answer the purpose stated (or implied) in the brief? Does it answer the question? Does it answer the needs of the projected reader? Is there a target audience? Has the material been placed in the appropriate sections, depending on the assignment type ? Has all the material been checked for accuracy, particularly when using source material ?

Your checklist … Has all irrelevant material been removed? Is it written in an appropriate style (i.e. using formal academic writing; no colloquialisms or contractions, using an objective tone, specific rather than vague)? Is it jargon-free and clearly written? Has every idea taken from or inspired by someone else's work been acknowledged with a reference? Have you followed the stipulated referencing guidelines exactly? Does every in-text citation have a corresponding full reference and vice versa? Have you used the best available evidence and / or most appropriate example to support or illustrate each point?

Your checklist … Is there a clear line of reasoning (or thread) running from the introduction, throughout the main body / section and through towards the final conclusion? Is the conclusion logical? Are any recommendations logical and feasible? Is it well presented, in a professional manner and in accordance with assignment guidelines? Word count, formatting instructions, content guidelines? Have I demonstrated my knowledge & understanding? Have I been critical enough or too descriptive? Is there enough analysis and evaluation?

Read your work out loud Reading your own work out loud (find a quiet space on your own so you don’t feel silly!) or by using text-to-voice software, you are forcing yourself to read what is actually there, not what you think or hope is there! When we read in our heads and / or do not leave sufficient ‘critical distance’ between finishing our final draft and proofreading, there is a tendency to read what we wish to be there. Listening out loud really helps you to spot errors such as sentences which don’t quite make sense, unsupported statements, going off topic, etc. Get someone else whose English is good to read your work. They do not have to have knowledge of the content, but if they can follow your ideas then this is generally a good sign!

Things to check … See if you can go through your piece of work and pay attention to each individual paragraph. Ask yourself if and how this paragraph relates to the assignment brief or topic. If you cannot see a relationship then you will probably need to rework the paragraph or even consider whether it has any value at all within this piece of work. What does it add? Every paragraph must make a valuable contribution. Does it look back to the assignment brief / question and feed forwards towards your conclusion (and recommendations if included)?

Things to check … Look at the relationship between your paragraphs Have you used plenty of linking words and phrases to help with the flow of your writing i.e. Furthermore, Additionally, A possible explanation for this …, Similarly, In contrast … ? Using plenty of these linking words and phrase helps you to synthesise information from a variety of different sources and helps you to demonstrate criticality within your writing. They can be used to make links between sentences and between paragraphs. They help to ‘signpost’ the direction of your ideas and contribute towards positive reader experience!

Using feedback to feedforward … Check your assignment against any feedback you have on previous assignments. It is really important to use feedback effectively to feedforward towards your future academic work. Always keep copies of marked work, including the feedback comments and note any areas that you have done well (we don’t always know this!) and areas that you have been advised to develop. This will really help you to develop your writing and avoid potentially making the same mistakes again.