Stage 8: Redrafting and Editing

The Academic Essay

You may do several complete revisions of your first draft to achieve the final draft. At this stage you are preparing your work for submission so adopt the same critical attitude as your reader.
Read aloud to yourself and look for areas that could be improved.
Read aloud to a critical partner and genuinely encourage constructive criticism from them.
You may find it easier to edit by looking at different aspects of the essay at each redrafting.

Carefully check that:

You have clearly answered the question, adequately covered all essential material and avoided irrelevant material.
You have a clear, logical structure with all sections linked:
- The introduction is clear and effective
- The body comprises paragraphs, each of which contain ideas outlined in your introduction and which support your thesis statement
- The conclusion is clear and effective with no new information.
All ideas are properly cited/referenced in the text of your essay as required by the lecturer.
A reference list is included which is in the referencing style required by the lecturer/faculty.
Spelling, grammar, sentence structure and punctuation are correct.
You have used unambiguous, objective language and avoided discriminatory language.
Your writing style is clear and simple.

Remember: Your reader is interested in how successful you have been at interpreting researched works and using the ideas to construct your own sentences NOT how you can extract key expressions/phrases from other writers' work and then add extra words to create your sentences. The essay MUST be your work!

Click on the following links for information about the Stages of the Essay: