1. The Curious Researcher The Fifth Week

2. Revising for Purpose You should determine whether the purpose of your paper is clear and examine how well the information is organized around that purpose The main purpose of my essay on _______________ is to (use the appropriate word or words) explain, argue, explore, describe _______________________ Clarify your research question Sometimes you see that you need to hitch your specific question to a larger idea

3. Wrestling with the Draft Choose a page of your draft somewhere in the middle Mark the parts where where you’re a less active author Less active is material from another source Mark the parts where you’re a more active author More active is material from your own brain

4. The Thesis as a Tool for Revision Purpose and thesis are closely related Purpose is a statement of intention A thesis is a tool that will help you reopen the material you’ve gathered, rearrange it, and understand it in a new way Write down your thesis Make a list of three or more questions Questions may directly challenge the thesis or they can help you clarify what you’re trying to say Rewrite thesis statement at least three times Rearrange how you state the thesis

5. Using a Reader Peer response is helpful After peers read your paper, have them answer these four questions: What would you say is the main question that the paper is trying to focus on? What is the main point? What do you remember that convinces you most? What convinces you the least? Where is it the most interesting and most dull?

6. Cut-and-Paste Revision Photocopy or print two copies of the first draft Cut apart the copy of your research paper paragraph by paragraph. Shuffle the paragraphs around Go through the stack and find the core paragraph Work your way through the remaining stack of paragraphs and make two new stacks: one stack is relevant to the core paragraph and one is not Set aside the reject pile Assemble the rough draft including your core paragraph Look for gaps where you should add information

7. Cut-and-Paste Revision cont’d Ask yourself these questions while looking at each paragraph: Does it develop my thesis or further the purpose of my paper, or does it seem an unnecessary tangent that could be part of another paper with a different focus? Does it provide important evidence that supports my main point? Does it explain something that’s key to understanding what I’m trying to say? Does it illustrate a key concept? Does it help establish the importance of what I’m trying to say? Does it raise (or answer) a question that I must explore, given what I’m trying to say?

8. Three things the essay must do You must be confidence that your purpose is stated clearly Research Question What is the purpose of this investigation? What do I want to know? So What? Why is the question I’m asking significant for people other than me? Say One Thing What is my thesis? What seems the best answer to my question?

9. Revising for Information and Language Use the internet to search for specific facts Refdesk.com US Census Bureau Listen to your paper by reading it aloud to yourself Avoid drawing more attention to who the writer is rather than what he has to say Control information by stating facts and put them together in a paragraph Revise them to make each version more lively Find your own way of saying things Surround factual information with your own analysis Verbal gestures

10. Scrutinizing Paragraphs and Sentences Anchor quotes and ideas to people or publications in your paper Say words such as: argues, observes, says, contends, believes, and offers Each paragraph should be about one idea Try to cut short the paragraphs Use active voice Use strong verbs Keep sentences at a reasonable length