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Inver Hills Community College

          

          
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PARTS & SECTIONS

   Click on a title below:

Part I.
Basics/Process

  A. Chapters 1-6:
      
Starting

  B. Ch. 7-13:
       Organizing

  C. Ch. 14-20:
       Revising/Edit
ing

Part II.
College Writing

   D. Ch. 21-23:
        What Is It?

   E. Ch. 24-30:
      
 Write on Rdgs.

   F. Ch.31-35:
       Arguments

  G. Ch. 36-42:
       Research

   I.  Ch. 49-58:
       Majors & Work

Part III.
Writing to Literature

 H. Ch. 43-48:
       Literature

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 Study Questions

 

                                                     

DIVISION II:
COLLEGE & PROFESSIONAL PAPERS

   

How to Edit Your Final Draft

      

A. Have you thoroughly edited your college paper?

B. Have you reset MS Word for editing?

C. What are editing needs for majors and professionals?

                     

A. HAVE YOU THOROUGHLY
EDITED YOUR COLLEGE PAPER?

  1. Problem: Most people who write papers have something intelligent to say.  However, a great many papers receive low grades simply because the papers are difficult to read or understand because of poor editing. 

  2. Solution: Such problems often can be cured simply by much more thorough revising and editing.  Success in editing is measured much more by how much time you spend on it than by how "good" you are at it.  For most people, it is actually easier to be a good editor than a good rough-draft writer.

  3. What can you do? Edit well.  How? Stop seeing the contents of your paper in the editing stage.  How do you stop seeing contents?  Do so by reading it (a) backward and (b) aloud, (c) sentence by sentence
      
    Doing it backward like this helps you focus more fully on editing the sentence itself, rather than the flow of ideas.  Reading it aloud processes it through a different part of your brain in two ways--both through your mouth and through your ears.
          
    For example, when I edited this column of text, I  said to myself, out loud, the last sentence in this column: "Go to 'Tools' and 'Word Count.'"  What does that mean?  Don't worry about it. Just decide whether the sentence sounds clear and looks right. 

  4. Should you make all the changes at once?  Avoid that. Instead, fix just one type or group of errors at a time.  For example, read backward for spelling and capitalization once, fixing things as you find the errors.  Then read backward another time for comma splices and fragments, a third time for comma errors, etc.

  5. What should you do next?  Most people cannot find all their error patterns alone.  Use the above methods first; then take your paper  to your school writing or tutoring center or to someone with very good kills in English.  "A" and "B" grade writers usually are those who use such help regularly, not those who avoid it.  

                      

B. HAVE YOU RESET MS WORD FOR EDITING?

MS Word usually is set for checking workplace grammar but not formal style.  And your spell check may not be turned on.  For formal writing, you should reset these two functions.

Word 2007: For grammar and spell check In Word 2007, click on the "Review" tab, then "Spelling and Grammar."  Then check the "Check grammar" box.  Next, in this same box, click on "Options."  Then, in the "Word Options" box, be sure "Proofing" is checked. 

Word 2000: For grammar check, go to "Tools," "Options," "Grammar," and "Writing Style."  (In earlier versions, reset it to "Formal" grammar style.)  For spell check, turn it on by going to "Tools," "Options," and "Spelling" and check the first box (in Word 2000 and later).  

Word Count: Do you need a word count?  Go to "Tools" and "Word Count."

Additional, more detailed directions are available.  See "Spell and Grammar Check" in the chapter called "What Is 'Revising'?"
        

                      

C. WHAT ARE EDITING NEEDS FOR
MAJORS & PROFESSIONALS?

Small but Important Errors: 

One important activity in editing your workplace writing is to check very carefully for your use of words and phrases.  A "not" or the lack of it--or a missing or incorrect word--in any sentence or paragraph may completely change your meaning or otherwise create quite a bit of confusion or misunderstanding among your readers.

 Checking for such mistakes is much more important in professional writing than in academic (school) writing.  In school, the focus is on your overall ideas and the development of them.  However, in professional writing, your details and ideas may be explained so efficiently and concisely that what may seem like a minor mistake to you, the writer, can become a major misunderstanding to the reader. 

For this reason, it is wise to carefully check what you have written--backwards, paragraph by paragraph; read it aloud; and/or have someone else read it.  In fact, if your paper is very important to you, you should try all three of these methods.  

Source Materials:

Source materials--quotations and paraphrases--include not only what others have said in print or aloud but also what they have created as graphs, statistics, or pictures or in other audiovisual formats.   Always clearly show what has originated from someone else and who that source is. 

If you are using a graphic (a table, chart, picture, etc.), it is acceptable in some professional writing simply to mention the source in a side note immediately after, beside, or before it.  In more formal professional writing, however, and especially in using quotes or paraphrases of printed or spoken words, the words generally should not just be inserted.  Rather, it is better to offer a phrase or sentence of introduction beforehand, just as you might introduce one person to another at a professional function. 

A bibliography may or may not be necessary, depending on the type of workplace paper you are writing and how many sources you have.  When in doubt, use academic guidelines: see "Quoting & Paraphrasing" in this textbook and OnlineGrammar.org 's  three chapters on "Research & Bibliographies."

"He/she/it" vs. "I" or "You":

In most professional writing, you should use the third-person pronouns "he," "she," "it," and "they."  You should not use "you," as you are not giving directions. 

You also should not use "I" at any time, unless you are referring to yourself in an example, in which case you should start your example with a transition (e.g., "For example, one time I was...) to help show that you are moving into a personal story.  Once the story is over, simply return to the third-person pronoun again. 

However, if conventions are different in your workplace, follow the conventions that your supervisor expects.  In some professional writing, the use of "you"--as in this Web page you are reading now or as in many magazine articles--has become acceptable.

Active vs. Passive Verbs:

Many professional writing guides discourage excessive passive constructions.  A passive construction is, for example, "The project will be presented," as opposed to the active version of it, "Jane will present the project."

However, a certain amount of passive-voice writing may be necessary, acceptable, and even desirable.  This is because the passive voice emphasizes the activities that are under discussion and de-emphasizes--or entirely omits--who is doing the activities.  For example, examine how the passive "The project was terminated" avoids stating who terminated it, while the active "James Willard terminated the project" clearly states who did the terminating. 

As a result--for better or worse--when you use the passive voice, no one individual gets credit or blame for the activity, and the entire activity becomes part of the overall group effort.  For best results in your own workplace writing, you may want to examine examples of writing that your supervisor or instructor prefers and try to mimic the active- or passive-voice style in them.  

Paragraphing: 

Paragraphing in many professional workplaces follows some relatively standard guidelines.  As stated in other chapters about professional writing,

(1) your introduction and conclusion generally should be short and to the point.  Generally speaking, you may use more than one paragraph in each only if they are unusually long or you are adding extras such as an abstract (in the introduction), a brief credentials chapter (in the conclusion), or some other addition requested by your supervisor. 

(2) Each body section generally should have two or more paragraphs, unless your paper is rather short. 

(3) Paragraph length should be about 100-150 words, with a few short paragraphs allowable or even, in some professional writing, encouraged, and lengths should be varied on any given page to help maintain reader attention.  These guidelines are for short- and medium-length professional papers; longer, more formal ones may need a more academic style of paragraphing, with longer paragraphs. 

(4) A topic word, phrase, or sentence--announcing each medium or long paragraph's subject or conclusion--should be at its beginning. 

(5) Don't worry about paragraphing in rough drafts that your supervisor will not see.  For more advice, go to the "Paragraphing" chapter.

Always Take Time to Edit:

I write a monthly newsletter for two thousand professional in the field of English, so they are particularly aware of mistakes I make.  And I usually make at least one small mistake each month--fortunately, it often is formatting or something else almost invisible.  I go over and over my newsletter before sending it, deleting the several errors I always find, some of them glaring errors that make me look bad, even though usually they occur from line changes, deletions, etc., and not from my bad grammar or spelling.  Always check.  Everyone makes errors.  Just be sure you make so few that you get a reputation for good writing.
  

     
For more details, see the "Editing" section.

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Return to top.

                 

                        

                    

PART II
COLLEGE WRITING

D. What Is It?

E. Write to Readings

F. Write Arguments

G. Research

H. Write to Literature

 I. Write for Majors/Work

                    

                

    
 

Updated 1 Aug. 2013

  

   

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Writing for College 
by Richard Jewell is licensed by Creative Commons under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
WritingforCollege.org also is at CollegeWriting.info and WforC.org
Natural URL: http://www.richard.jewell.net/WforC/home.htm
1st Edition: Writing for School & Work, 1984-1998. 6th Edition: 8-1-12, rev. 8-1-13. Format rev. 11-28-21
Text, design, and photos copyright 2002-12 by R. Jewell or as noted
Permission is hereby granted for nonprofit educational copying and use without a written request.

Contact Richard.  Questions and suggestions are welcome.