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Assignment Calculator

A Time Management Tool for Researching and Writing Your Paper

Step 9 – Revise and Rewrite/Find Additional Sources

Key Points

  • Revision requires that you open yourself up to the possibility that parts of your paper—and even your entire paper—might need to be re-thought and rewritten.
  • Give yourself adequate time to revise.
  • Make sure your paper incorporates all the resources asked for in your assignment.

Revision Checklist

Revision is different than proofreading. Proofreading means checking your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Revision, on the other hand, gives you the opportunity to examine the structure of your paper and make sure that each paragraph really expresses what you meant to say. And it can often turn a B paper into an A paper.

You may be feeling a little protective of your first draft and believe that you’ve done the best you can do. But take a break—for a day or at least an hour—then come back to your paper and consider some of the questions below. If you want, you can print this checklist to have it handy while you read.

Consider Your Introduction

⇒ Does your introduction define all of your key terms?
⇒ Does your introduction draw your reader in?
⇒ Does your introduction lead your reader clearly to your thesis statement?

Consider Your Thesis Statement

⇒ Does your thesis statement say what you want it to say?
⇒ Does your thesis statement make a point worth considering? Does it answer the question, "So what?"
⇒ Does the paper deliver what your thesis statement promises to deliver?

Consider Your Structure

⇒ Make an outline of the paper you've just written. Does this outline reflect your intentions?
⇒ Does this outline make sense? Or are there gaps in the logic? Places where you've asked the reader to make leaps you haven't prepared her/him for?
⇒ Is each point equally developed? (That is, does your paper seem balanced, overall?)

Consider Your Paragraphs

⇒ Does each paragraph have a topic sentence that clearly controls the paragraph?
⇒ Are the paragraphs internally coherent? (That is, does each sentence in the paragraph clearly relate to the sentences around it and to the topic sentence?)
⇒ Are the paragraphs externally coherent? (That is, have you made adequate transitions from paragraph to paragraph? Is each paragraph clearly related to the thesis statement?)

Consider Your Argument and Its Logic

⇒ Have you really presented an argument, or is your paper merely a series of observations, a summary?
⇒ Do you see any holes in your argument? Or do you find the argument convincing?
⇒ Have you supplied ample evidence for your arguments?

Consider Your Style

⇒ Read your paper aloud. Is it easy to read? Do you stumble anywhere? Is it hard to follow?
⇒ Do too many of your sentences follow the same pattern? Can you rearrange some to get a different rhythm?
⇒ What verb tense did you use? Is it the same throughout?

Consider Your Conclusion

⇒ Is your conclusion appropriate, or does it introduce some completely new idea?
⇒ Does your conclusion sum up your main point?
⇒ Does your conclusion leave your reader with something to think about?

Image of a light bulbNote! Revision Tips

In addition to the advice given above, we'd like to offer the following tips for revising your paper.

  • Give yourself adequate time to revise. Spend some time away from your rough draft. When you return, you will have a fresh perspective on it
  • Print a hard copy of your paper. Studies have found that many people miss problems in their papers when they are reading from the computer screen
  • Read your paper out loud. Sometimes you can hear mistakes that you don't see
  • Get a second reader. Have a friend read through your paper with a critical eye
  • Be a second reader. There's no better way to learn how to revise your paper than to help someone else revise his
  • Visit the Writing Center or the Peer Connections. Their tutors can help improve your paper

Additional Resources Checklist

Now ask yourself these questions:

  1. Do I have the number of sources required?
  2. Is my paper the proper length?
  3. Does my paper include the required types of sources (e.g., books, primary source materials, peer-reviewed journal articles, appropriate websites, etc.)?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you might want to go back to Step 4: Find and Evaluate Books, Step 5: Find and Evaluate Journal Articles or Step 6: Find and Evaluate Websites to retrieve more sources. A reference librarian can also help you find more resources.

Now it's time to move on to Step 10: Work with Your Topic .

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“Revision Checklist” is adapted from: Revision: Cultivating a Critical Eye by The Dartmouth Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, Karen Gocsik, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire at https://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac-paper/revise.html.
“Consider Your Style” is adapted from: Writer’s Checklist for Revising Your Paper by CSU Dominguez Hills, Dominguez Hills, California at https://som.csudh.edu/depts/adjunct/mmcgee/S99%20Writer's%20Checklist.html
“Additional Resources Checklist” is adapted from: The Assignment Research Calculator by the Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno at https://www.csufresno.edu/library/ARC2/index.php