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Finishing touches

Finishing touches. By Scott Hagen Writing Center Assistant Director. First and Foremost. Before you begin the final editing process for your paper, make sure your paper contains the following: A well-developed focus (thesis) statement.

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Finishing touches

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  1. Finishing touches By Scott Hagen Writing Center Assistant Director

  2. First and Foremost... Before you begin the final editing process for your paper, make sure your paper contains the following: • A well-developed focus (thesis) statement. • Organized and developed ideas and concepts that expand on your focus statement. • A smooth flow throughout the paper. • Proper support for your ideas in the form of examples and properly cited references.

  3. Check the Assignment Guidelines Once More • At this point in your paper, you should have all of your thoughts down, organized, and well-supported. Be sure to check the assignment guidelines again to make sure you have covered everything that is required for this paper.

  4. Editing Your Paper Once you have ensured that your paper is focused, organized and developed, and you’ve re-checked the assignment guidelines, it’s time to begin the editing and revising process!

  5. Self-Proofreading • To find editing mistakes in your paper, we recommend reading through the paper from the last sentence to the first sentence. Taking the sentences out of order better insures that you read the sentences as they actually are written instead what how you may think they are written. Then you can read through the paper out loud from the beginning to catch any mistakes you may have missed and make sure the paper flows from one idea to the next. In addition, make sure words are spelled correctly, endings of words are not missing, and punctuation marks are present and correct. • For more information on editing please visit http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/editing.htm.

  6. Sentence Structure • Ideally, each sentence in your paper should contain two essential components: a subject and a predicate. The subject is the person, place, or thing that the sentence pertains to (the “what”), and the predicate is the discussion of why you’re talking about that subject (the “so what.”) • Example: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)has been proven to be an effective measure for treating individuals with anxiety disorders. • In this example, the purple highlighted section is your subject, and the blue highlighted area is your predicate!

  7. Fragmented Sentences Also known as incomplete sentences, sentence fragments often occur due to a missing subject or predicate. • These sentences cannot stand alone as complete sentences because information is missing. • Example (fragment): Applying the data received from the participating clients. • Example (correct): Applying the data received from the participating clients resulted in a more accurate final report. Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm for a complete discussion on how to correct fragments.

  8. Fused Sentences Often called run-on sentences, fused sentences have two parts (independent clauses) that can and often should be written separately. • These sentences would benefit from the incorporation of commas, semicolons, and/or being broken down into two separate sentences (each with its own topic). • Example (fused): The effectiveness of CBT was noted in the study’s findings, client responses were also included in the data report. • Example (correct): The effectiveness of CBT was noted in the study’s findings;client responses were also included in the data report. • Example (correct): The effectiveness of CBT was noted in the study’s findings, and client responses were also included in the data report. • Example (correct): The effectiveness of CBT was noted in the study’s findings.In addition, Client responses were also included in the data report. • Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm for instructions on how to incorporate commas, semicolons, or how to reconstruct the sentence into two sentences.

  9. Verb Tense Try to avoid switching verb tenses (past, present, and future) within the same sentence. • Example (wrong): The ten participants in the study claimed that they found the intervention useful and feel a reduction in anxiety. • In this example, “claimed” is past-tense, and “feel” is present tense. • Example (correct): The ten participants in the study claimed that they found the intervention useful and felt a reduction in anxiety. • In this example, both highlighted verbs are properly written in past-tense. Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm or http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm for a complete discussion on verb tense.

  10. Subject-Verb Agreement Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. • Example (incorrect): The study claim that most clients finds the intervention helpful. • Example (correct): The study claims that most clients find the intervention helpful. • Example (incorrect): Smith and Jones (2012) states that CBT is a form of therapy supported by evidence-based practice. • Example (correct): Smith and Jones (2012) state that CBT is a form of therapy supported by evidence-based practice. Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm for more information about subject-verb agreement

  11. Possessive Form The difference between a plural form of a word (clients) and a possessive form (client’s) is that the first only indicates multiple people. The second indicates ownership. • Example (plural): The clients were asked to fill out a questionnaire. • Example (singular possessive): The client’s response to the question was adequate. • Example (plural possessive): The clients’ perceptions of the intervention were noted. Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm for more information on possessive form.

  12. Articles & Determiners Be sure not to leave out articles and determiners (the, an, a, etc.) in your writing. • Example (incorrect): Multitude of studies show that client was receptive to both forms of treatment process. • Example (correct): A multitude of studies show that the client was receptive to both forms of the treatment process. Please see http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/determiners/determiners.htm for more information on when to use these words.

  13. Additional Rules of Grammar • For a more complete discussion on the rules of grammar (including comma rules), please reference the following handbook created by professor Susan Gaffney. • You can download this file at: www.govst.edu/uploadedFiles/Writing_Center/Basic%20Rules%20of%20Grammar%20WORD%202007%20Document.docx

  14. Outcome Verbs • The following is a document from P.A.C.E. that provides a breakdown of the appropriate verbs for educational learning objectives.  While this resource is valuable for students studying education, it is also useful for any academic work that requires more formal wording. • The document can be found at: http://www.govst.edu/uploadedFiles/Writing_Center/Outcome%20Verbs.pdf

  15. Additional Resources • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Grammar Handbook - http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/ • Capital Community College: Guide to Grammar and Writing -http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

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