Editing and revision tips
Revising and editing your paper before you submit it is vital in assuring that everything makes sense and effectively communicates what you intend to communicate. While it may seem like revising and editing are the same thing, they are in fact different.
Revising is when you look at the structure, organization, and content of your paper. When revising, you’ll want to make sure that the order of your paragraphs makes sense and support your main claim. Do you need to move any of your paragraphs around? Does one paragraph flow nicely into the next paragraph or does it feel like the two are totally different? Do you have topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph?
You’ll also want to make sure you have strong evidence that is relevant to your topic. Does your evidence support your main claim? Do you need more evidence? Do you need to change your claim because the evidence does not support it? Can you track your main claim throughout your paper or does it get lost?
Editing is when you look closely at each of the sentences. Is everything grammatically correct? Are you missing any commas? Are your citations correct? Are all of the words spelled correctly?
You can also look at the wording of each sentence. Are some sentences too long and need to be cut down? Are there any sentence fragments? Are there any places where you could use a better word to describe something?
When editing, it can be helpful to read your paper out loud. You will be able to catch run-on sentences and missing commas easier. Some things will sound funny when read out loud, then you’ll know that you need to change something there.
How to Summarize a Text
When summarizing a text, the first thing you’ll want to do is get a general sense of the layout of the piece. If it is a scientific research article, the article may be broken down into subsections like introduction, methods, results, and discussion. If it is an article making an argument, those subsections may not be present, but it will be most helpful to focus on the introduction and the conclusion.
First, as you’re reading, you’ll want to look for the main claim of the piece. It will be a hypothesis for a scientific article or a thesis statement for an argumentative article. Usually, this information is introduced toward the end of the introduction and reiterated in the conclusion.
Second, you’ll want to find the main evidence that supports or refutes the main claim of the piece. In a scientific article, this evidence is discussed in the results section, though it is important to still consider the methods as the methods guide the author to their results. In an argumentative article, the main evidence will be found in the body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should introduce an element that supports the main claim.
Once you’ve identified all of these elements, take notes in your own words about what you’ve read. You’ll want your notes to use different words from the original words used in the piece. By using different words, you are demonstrating that you understand what you have read.
Now, when you go to write your summary, take the notes and turn them into sentences that describe the main claim and evidence found in the article you are summarizing.
Why do you need to cite?
Citing your sources when writing is important because it gives credit to other researchers, and most importantly, it avoids plagiarism. You will want to include external sources in your writing to help support your data or argument. By including in-text citations within your writing, you are providing a “road map” for your readers so that they know where the information in your writing came from. It also allows your reader to find out more about the topic.
When should you cite?
You will cite a source when you include any information in your paper that you did not already know. If you introduce a statistic or a fact that you found on a website, cite that website. If you are summarizing a passage from a book, be sure to cite the book. If you are including direct quotations from a text, you must cite that text.
Avoiding plagiarism:
What not to do when including outside sources:
- Present information from a source as your own ideas
- Cut and paste online text without quotation or citation
- Quoting or paraphrasing a source without citation
- Adapting another writer’s interpretation of data without citation
- Citing exact words without marking them as a direct quotation
- Paraphrasing the source while using words that are too similar without quoting
Doing any of these things counts as plagiarism!
How to integrate quotations into your writing:
When quoting from an outside source, you want to make sure that the source supports your argument and that it enhances what you are saying, instead of detracting from it. It is important to situate your quotation in your writing rather than simply dropping it in the middle of a paragraph with no explanation. What you will want to do is form a quotation sandwich where you first introduce the quote, then include the quote, and finally follow up with a couple of sentences where you explain the quote to show why you chose to add it. Essentially, the quote is sandwiched in between your words. Try to aim for your explanation to be double the length of your quoted material.
Example: The escape to the wilderness, and the formation of environmentalist culture, resulted in the idea that “humans have been disconnected from a simpler, unmediated, corporeal relationship to the earth. In dominant environmental thought, modernity is a crutch, disconnecting our bodies from nature,” in which technology or the machine becomes the destroyer of the purity of nature (Ray 49). In essence, the dominant perspective in environmentalism is that the human body is no longer connected to the earth and that modernity is the root cause of this disconnection. Thus, any machine in nature is seen as an abomination, something that distorts the natural world to the point of no return.
(From Sarah Jaquette Ray’s essay “Risking Bodies in the Wild: The ‘Corporeal Unconscious’ of American Adventure Culture” in Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities: Toward an Eco-Crip Theory, edited by Sarah Jaquette Ray and Jay Sibara, UNP-Nebraska, 2017.)
Citation Styles:APA
The main components of APA format are the author and the date. Naming the author gives credit, and including the date highlights the currency of the research.
APA In-Text Citation
For print sources (book, magazine article, newspaper, journal article), include the author and the year of publication.
Examples:
According to Turkle (2012), “Anxiety about Internet friendships makes people cherish the other kind. The possibility of constant connection makes people value a bit of space” (p. 275).
Sherry Turkle (2012) points to stories from people of various generations who long for just that kind of space away from email, texts, and social media. Outside of the easily tossed, friended relationships of networked life, ties with others are rediscovered.
If the source has two authors, include both names.
ex: (Bartlett & Steele, 2012)
For works with three to five authors, include all names in first use, but then use “et al.” in subsequent uses
ex: (Anderson, Bartlett, Cox, & Dalrymple, 2015)
becomes (Anderson et al., 2015)
With more than five authors, use “et al.” for first use and onwards
APA References Page
Basic format:
- Center “References” at the top of the page
- Each entry should be in alphabetical order
- Each entry should have a hanging indent where the lines following the first line are indented
ONLINE ARTICLE:
Behr, R. (2011, January 29). Sherry Turkle’s Online Shifts. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jan/29
WEBSITE:
Centers for Disease Control. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.org/buenovirus
INTERVIEW:
Turkle, S. (2014). Interview with Sherry Turkle (B. Moyers, Interviewer). Retrieved from http://www.billmoyers.com
Citation Styles: Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) utilizes footnotes as a way to engage with sources in a way to enhance what is written in the text. There are two types of citation within CMS, the author-date system and the notes and bibliography system. The author-date system is used most often in the social sciences. The notes and bibliography system is used in literature, history, and the arts.
Chicago Manual of Style In-Text Citation
Author-Date System: Include the author’s last name, the date of publication, and the page number if applicable in parentheses.
Example: (Turkle 2012, 275)
You can also add a footnote if you feel there is additional information you might like to add.
Example: (Turkle 2012)¹
¹ Though studies show that people are beginning to have more online friends.
Notes and Bibliography System: Here, you will put a superscript where you want to cite your source. Then, at the bottom of your page, you’ll have a footnote with the citation. Indent the citation and include general publication info including author’s name, title of the piece, city of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page number. For an online source, you’ll want to include a permalink or digital object identifier (DOI).
Example: In The Great Derangement, Amitav Ghosh draws on Kohn’s idea that ‘“forms’ — by which he means more than shapes or visual metaphors—are one of the means that enable our surroundings to think through us” and ultimately “to think like a forest, then, is to think in images”.¹
- Amitav Ghosh. The Great Derangement (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2016), 82-83.
Citation Styles: MLA
The main components of MLA format are the author’s last name and the page number where the information came from. Naming the author gives credit, and including the page number allows your reader to go find the information you are citing.
MLA In-Text Citation
For print sources (book, magazine article, newspaper, journal article), include the author and the page number.
Examples:
According to Turkle, “Anxiety about Internet friendships makes people cherish the other kind. The possibility of constant connection makes people value a bit of space” (275).
She points to stories from people of various generations who long for just that kind of space away from email, texts, and social media. Outside of the easily tossed, friended relationships of networked life, ties with others are rediscovered (Turkle 275).
If the source has two authors, include both names.
ex: (Bartlett and Steele)
For works with three to five authors, include the last name of the first author and replace the remainder of the authors with “et al.”
ex: (Anderson et al.)
MLA Works Cited Page
Basic format:
- Center “Works Cited” at the top of the page
- Each entry should be in alphabetical order
- Each entry should have a hanging indent where the lines following the first line are indented
ONLINE ARTICLE:
Keefe, Patrick Radden. “Philip Montgomery’s Up-Close Portrait of an America in Crisis.” The New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/philip-montgomerys-unblinking-portrait-of-an-america-in-crisis?utm_source=NYR_REG_GATE. Accessed 15 Nov. 2021.
WEBSITE:
“Sustainable Management of Food.” Environmental Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food.
BOOK:
Ghosh, Amitav. The Great Derangement. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Comma Rules
There are 7 rules for when to use commas.
Comma Rule 1:use a comma before coordinating conjunctions that join independent clauses
- A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins 2 or more ideas. The coordinating conjunctions are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
- An independent clause is a complete thought or a sentence. It has at least one subject and at least one verb.
Example: Erin enjoys writing movie reviews, and she has published several reviews on her website.
Comma Rule 2: use commas to separate items in a series
* Be sure to include a comma directly before the “and” in the list to ensure clarity. That comma is called the Oxford comma.
Example: Tonight I have to write my paper, edit my discussion post, and read for class tomorrow.
Comma Rule 3: use a comma after introductory words, phrases, and clauses
Examples: Quickly, she gathered her belongings. (introductory word)
Driving fast, they missed their turn. (introductory phrase)
After he finished his homework, Skylar watched Netflix. (introductory clause)
Comma Rule 4:use commas to set off nonrestrictive phrases or clauses from the rest of the sentence
- A nonrestrictive phrase or clause, also known as inessential information, is a phrase or clause that adds nonessential information to the sentence. In other words, if the phrase or clause were to be removed from the sentence, the sentence would still make sense.
Example: My cousin, who lives in Chicago, won’t be able to make it to the party tonight.
Comma Rule 5:use a comma between adjectives that modify the same noun
* If you can put “and” or “but” between the adjectives, a comma will probably belong there.
Example: The tall, purple flowers are my favorite
Comma Rule 6: use a comma to separate a direct address from the rest of the sentence
Example: Jonah, don’t forget to pick up your sister.
Comma Rule 7: in direct quotes, use a comma to separate the speaker from the quote
Examples: According to BBC News, “renewables now supply around 12% of power compared to 10% in 2020.”
“I’m excited to see what will happen,” she said.
Semicolon Rules
There are only two rules for when to use semicolons.
Semicolon Rule 1:use a semicolon between two independent clauses
- This is just like Comma Rule 1 except you will not include a coordinating conjunction.
Examples: I have to go to the store; I need to buy some milk.
I would love to invite Camryn to the party; however, he doesn’t live in Chicago anymore.
Semicolon Rule 2:use semicolons when you have a list that contains commas
Example: Today I saw my friend, who I went to high school with; my cousin, who I haven’t seen in two years; and my uncle, who just got back from Mexico.