Quick Edits for Sunday Night (30 minutes to an "A")

While there are many rules that vary from format issues to comma placement rules depending on the style assigned and the professor’s requirements, some basic last minute changes can bring a student’s paper up a letter grade without much effort.

Take 30 minutes out of your time to do these quick edits and I guarantee that you will have a stronger paper for doing the following:

1. Replace Contractions With Spelled-Out Words in Academic Papers: During a quick edit, replace all contractions with their spelled-out forms. Change “won’t” to “will not” and “can’t” to “cannot,” etc.

2. Replace First Person Point-of-View With the Third Person Point-of-View: Avoid using the first person point-of-view (I, we, us, etc.). Replace all forms of first person point-of-view with the third person point of view (he, she, they, etc.). Think about the audience for your paper or who are involved with your online community and use them to represent you (Nurses, Young Women, College Students, etc)

3. Check Tense Consistency Throughout Paper: Students should be sure to use a consistent verb tense throughout their academic paper. Most academic papers should be in the present tense.

4. Omit the Passive Voice as Much as Possible: Nothing livens up a paper more than using action verbs throughout. Students easily fall into passive writing, especially in academic papers because the passive voice can sometimes sound more serious or technical, but beware of this because it often equates to boring. Another reason students often fall into the passive voice is because they are unsure of the material or the source of the action.

“It is easy to mistake the alligator for the crocodile.” By first identifying the subject, which is currently the vague, implied anybody, students can rephrase the sentence to be active. The active sentence could instead read: “Anybody can mistake the alligator for the crocodile.” But a better way to make the sentence active is by narrowing the subject more. People who are unfamiliar with reptiles or amateurs makes for a clearer subject. “Amateurs often mistake the alligator for the crocodile.”

5. Ask Yourself:

* Does the thesis clearly develop a specific idea or set of ideas?
* Is each idea clearly explained and proven in the paper?
* Does the paper flow from one paragraph to the next?

6. Finally, re-read your paper one last time out loud, while considering the following:

* Inconsistent punctuation: After a heading, do you have no punctuation, a colon or a period? Is it like that throughout your work? If not, fix it.
* Misspellings: Sure, there's a spell check. Be sure to run it after you've completed your document. But don't just blindly hit "accept" changes. Look at each item it flags individually. Spell check can be wrong. If in doubt, look up the flagged item in a dictionary, thesaurus or grammar book.
* Repetitive words: One thing that keeps writing interesting is variety. It's easy to write your favorite words over and over, but challenge yourself to vary your vocabulary. If you think you're seeing a word too often, run the "find" feature in Word and see how many times you used it. Look for opportunities where you can change the word without changing the meaning.
* Inadequate Transitions: In writing, you need to lead your readers through your document by the hand. Don't confuse them: make sure one paragraph leads seamlessly to the next. Make sure there are no "jumps" in your writing that will leave your readers confused.
* Wordiness: Keep your writing "tight". Your readers' time is limited, so make sure every word counts. If you can make a point just as effectively in 10 words as in 25, pick 10. Your readers will thank you.
* Weak conclusions/no call to action: Ask yourself if your writing accomplished what you set out to do. Read over your conclusion again. Have you summed up the main points of your writing? Make sure you've encouraged your reader to take the next step.

7. Read it Backwards: Trust me on this last part. Reading your paper starting with the last sentence first allows you to catch so many problems you normally wouldn't catch reading it beginning to end.


Finally, the main thing is to not stress over Last-Minute Edits. Students should not stress too much over their work at the last minute. By touching on these simple, yet major, academic paper guidelines, students can raise their overall score on a paper even when time is at a premium.