You’ve hopefully integrated many of the principles covered in the Fundamentals of Writing for Researchers module in writing several drafts of your manuscript. It’s now time to put the finishing touches on your work.
By reflecting on these summary principles and checking your work based on the questions presented here, you’ll ensure your research is both easily accessible and understandable, therefore persuading your reader that your problem, approach, and findings are valid.
Editing for Content
Is your purpose immediately clear? Or will readers have to wade through six or eight paragraphs before understanding the purpose of each of the sections or the paper as a whole? Get to the point right away. Be explicit. Don’t write in a mystery-story fashion.
Have you limited your subject in each of your sections sufficiently? Or did you cover items that don’t relate to the main theme or purpose of each?
Did you leave out major points that could help readers gain a better understanding of your purpose or point?
Are your supporting details adequate? Have you developed each topic fully enough?
Did you include too many supporting details? Are your paragraphs or sections weighed down with more facts than your readers need or want to know?
Is your organization easy to follow? Did you move from beginning to end in a logical way? Or does your flow of ideas ramble and confuse readers? Did you use headings and subheadings consistently to guide the reader?
Does your copy answer the following questions as they relate to the main theme: “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How”?
Does your writing also answer the question, “So what”? In other words, do you tell readers the implications of your research; that is, how your research adds to the literature?
Editing for Paragraph Strength
Does each paragraph contain a topic sentence and deal with only that topic?
Including more than one will confuse your readers. In the example below, each sentence supports or elaborates upon the topic sentence, “Whales are the most intelligent creatures ever to inhabit the earth.” Each subsequent sentence tells the reader why. The logic of the paragraph would have suffered had the writer included a sentence such as, “Whales continually need to search for food in order to survive” because searching for food has nothing to do with intelligence. Amoebas search for food.
Well written:
“Whales are among the most intelligent creatures ever to inhabit the earth. Scientists studying whales rate their intelligence on a level with higher primates because of their complex group behavior. For example, these huge and impressive mammals have been seen teaching and disciplining their young, helping wounded fellow whales, engaging in elaborate sexual foreplay, and playing in definite game-like patterns. They are able to coordinate complex group activities because of their apparently effective communications system of sonar clicks and pings. All in all, scientific evidence shows that whales have a higher order of social organization. Unfortunately, the whales&rquo; intelligence is ignored by an industry that threatens them with extinction.”
Does each sentence in the paragraph contribute to the main idea in the paragraph?
Have you supported your main idea with one or more of the following: facts, examples, incidents, arguments, and reasons?
Well written:
“Employees in both business and industry should receive pay raises to cope with the rising cost of necessities. Food, for example, costs almost twice as much as it did five to ten years ago. Not too long ago a family of four had an adequate supply of food for about forty dollars a week, but today the same items cost eighty dollars or more. For example, ground beef that had sold for one dollar a pound now costs two dollars a pound. A loaf of bread now costs two dollars instead of eighty to ninety cents. Unless wages match rising prices, people will have difficulty buying necessities such as food.”
The above example illustrates excellent supporting statements for the main idea (topic sentence). The writer moves from a general statement or claim to increasingly more detailed examples as to why the claim is made; that is, why employees pay raises should align with cost of living increases. This can best be illustrated by the following paragraph breakdown:
Employees in both business and industry should receive pay raises to cope with the rising cost of necessities.
- Food, for example, costs about twice as much as it did five to ten years ago.
- Not too long ago a family of four had an adequate supply of food for about forty dollars a week, but today the same items cost eighty dollars or more.
- For example, ground beef that had sold for one dollar a pound now costs two dollars a pound.
- A loaf of bread now costs two dollars instead of eighty to ninety cents.
- Not too long ago a family of four had an adequate supply of food for about forty dollars a week, but today the same items cost eighty dollars or more.
Unless wages match rising prices, people will have difficulty buying necessities such as food.
Is each paragraph developed in a logical way? Will your readers be able to follow your thoughts?
Both of the example paragraphs above contain a naturally logical progression of thought and are easy to read because of it. It doesn’t matter if the first draft of your paragraph makes sense to you; you must ensure that the progression makes sense to your reader.
Are your thoughts in each paragraph linked where necessary by:
- Transitional words, such as “however,” “also,” “yet,” “although,” and so on?
- Repetition of a word or idea (sometimes in form of synonym) from the preceding sentence?
The following paragraph includes highlighted words and phrases to show how they increase readability; they link the writer’s thoughts and help with the flow of the paragraph, despite a rather boring topic. The last sentence also serves as a transition because it prepares the reader for the topic in the succeeding paragraph.
Excellent use of transitions:
“We do not read textbooks for amusement. Therefore, we should not use the same method for studying them that we use when reading novels. For one thing, much of the pleasure of reading fiction comes from our continuing surprise as the story unfolds, but we are usually confused by surprises in textbooks. For another, a good piece of fiction keeps us interested, awake, actively involved. However, textbooks often put us to sleep because there is no “action.” And finally, it is not very important if we miss or forget some of the details or events in a novel. But that is surely not the case when dealing with a textbook.”
Have you varied the lengths of your paragraphs?
When you look at each of your pages, check to see if your paragraphs vary in length. And length here refers to the “visual height” of the paragraphs. You need to vary the lengths of your paragraphs. Otherwise, readability is compromised by visually predictable blocks of text.
Editing for Brevity and Clarity
Have you purged each sentence of extraneous words?
Weed out every word that adds nothing to meaning and understanding. Examples: Change “during the course of” to “during” and “few in number” to “few.”
Example:
“The end result of the report is that it presents a full and complete account of the project’s final outcome.”
Revised:
“The report presents a full account of the project’s outcome.”
Did you choose concrete words and terms instead of abstract ones whenever possible?
Example:
“The research group structured the report in a functional manner.”
Revised:
“The research group put the conclusions first and then explained how they arrived at them.”
Have you avoided technical terms your readers might not understand?
If you had to use them, did you briefly explain or define them? Did you use acronyms without first explaining their meaning? For example, did you write, Institutional Review Board (IRB)” on first mention? Did you use vague adjectives when specifics are called for?
Example:
“We received numerous inquiries.”
Revised:
“We received 84 inquiries.”
Is your meaning clear to the reader?
Did you write to impress or communicate clearly? It doesn’t matter whether your writing is clear to you; it must be clear to the reader.
Unclear:
“Our models worked well when compared with the calculated values, which is evidenced by the percent errors.”
Revised:
“As the percent errors indicate, our models worked well when compared with the calculated values.”
Unclear:
“Isotopes, which were discovered in 1853, are radioactive.”
Accurate:
“The isotopes that were discovered in 1853 are radioactive.”
Is your average sentence length about 17–20 words?
Unusually long sentences contain too many ideas and force readers to work harder to understand your message.
Exhausting:
“In a smoke-filled room, teary eyes and runny noses occur, and auditory discrimination and visual perception are altered, which is irritating but not associated with any serious disease, except for people with heart and lung diseases who are threatened with major problems from smoke.”
Revised:
“A smoke-filled room does not only cause teary eyes and runny noses. The smoke also can alter auditory and visual perception. Although the smoke itself does not produce disease, it does pose a threat to people with heart and lung ailments.”
Editing for Vigor and Pace
Check to see if you used the strongest verbs possible. Specifically, determine if:- You used some dynamic verbs, such as “determined,” “examined,” “synthesized,” “identified,” etc. They energize your sentences.
- You overused parts of the verb “to be.” They drain energy and power from your sentences. Substitute stronger verbs for “is,” “was,” “were,” etc.
- Example: Change, “The experiment was productive” to “The experiment generated significant data.”
Determine if you used long nouns or phrases that can be changed to simple verbs.
Change “give consideration” to “consider” and “arrived at an agreement” to “agreed.” Look especially for nouns ending in “-tion,” “-tive,” “-ability,” “-ment,” “-able,” “-ness,” and “-ance.” Don’t overuse these.
Example:
“The manager made a recommendation that new employees should be given an invitation to join the credit union.”
Revision:
“The manager recommended that new employees be invited to join the credit union.”
Eliminate pesky prepositions (e.g., overusing to, of, in, on, by, with).
Example:
“The decrease in profit margins is of great concern to leaders of business.”
Revision:
Decreasing profit margins greatly concern business leaders.”
Did you vary the length of your sentences?
Even though your sentences should average about 17–20 words, your writing should contain some short, some medium-length, and some longer sentences to add rhythm and pace. Read your paragraphs aloud; you’ll quickly hear whether or not you’ve varied the length of your sentences and helped with readability.
Overly simple sentences:
There are some drawbacks about diesel engines. Diesel engines are much noisier than standard engines. They are difficult to start in cold weather. They tend to cause considerable vibrations. They also give off an unpleasant odor. For these reasons, many car manufacturers are limiting their diesel models to light trucks only.
Revised:
Diesel engines have some drawbacks. Most obvious are their noisiness, cold-weather starting difficulties, vibrations, and unpleasant odor. Therefore, many manufacturers are limiting their diesel models to light trucks.
Did you vary the beginnings of your sentences or do most of your sentences begin with the same part of speech?
Some writers, for example, start most sentences with nouns or noun phrases. Don’t. Variety adds spark. Caution: Don’t try to start each sentence with a different part of speech. Just strive for a moderate amount of variety.
Did you use the same word repeatedly throughout a paragraph?
Use synonyms to avoid repetitiveness unless reader understanding requires it.
Editing for Tone and Style
Does your writing sound confident and professional when read aloud? Do you persuade your reader with a well-reasoned explanation in each of your sections? Have you avoided using a dismissive tone when discussing weaknesses in other researchers’ methods or findings? Do your words sound as if they come from a human being or an institution? Have you written to impress or to clearly communicate meaning?- Instead of writing, “We utilized UV light to induce Arabidopsis for mutations,” write, “We used UV light to . . . for mutations.”
- Tip: Apply the conversational test: Ask yourself if you would use the same words if you were speaking to your reader.
The Final Editing
Put yourself in the reader’s place and reread the manuscript to be sure nothing in any of your paragraphs or sections can be misinterpreted.- Remember, it doesn’t matter if what you’ve written is clear to you; it must be clear to the reader.