ASSIGNMENT 07
PS490 Research Studies
Directions: Be sure to save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to
Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences,
and be sure to use correct English, spelling, and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA
format. Your response should be double‐spaced; refer to the “Format Requirementsʺ page
for specific format requirements.
Submit a revised version of your First Draft per the following requirements:
1. It should be more comprehensive than the First Draft submitted.
2. It should include the APA Style and Format.
Grading Rubric
Please refer to the rubric on the next page for the grading criteria for this assignment. Lesson 7: Revisiting and Editing the Paper
Seldom is a scholarly piece of work completed in its first round of writing. Revision is a fact of life
when writing any worthwhile piece of material. A major part of the revision process is
incorporating input, feedback or critique of your first draft by readers who can provide a critical
assessment. Before submitting your revised, final draft, proofreading is a must. Learning Objectives
Upon completion of Lesson 7, you
should be able to: Explain why revision is a
necessary process in writing. Explain why revision is
essential to the quality of
your research. Use criticism of draft work to
improve the final 'product'. Explain the difference
between revising and
proofreading. Review your own work with a
critical eye. What To Do Next
Reading Assignments
Click on the Reading Assignments
link above to access your textbook
reading assignments and lecture
notes.
Assessment
After you have completed the reading
assignments for this lesson and feel
comfortable with the material
presented, go to
the Assignments tool on the left
navigation panel and
complete Assignment 7.
Congratulations!
Once you have completed these
items, and have received a passing
score on the assessment, you are
ready to move on to your next
lesson! Reading Assignments
Text Readings
There are no textbooks in this course Additional Readings
DIRECTIONS: To access ProQuest articles, you MUST first open a Web browser window to the
ProQuest Library; otherwise, you will be denied access to the articles when you click the links.
Once your browser is open to ProQuest, simply click on the link for the article you need to read.
For detailed instructions on how to access ProQuest, click here. For non-ProQuest articles, use
the provided Internet link to access the Required Readings material.
ProQuest Articles There are no ProQuest readings assigned in this lesson. Internet Links Revision Lecture Notes
The written word
Should be clean as bone:
Clear as light,
Firm as stone;
Two words are not
As good as one.
-Anonymous
Revising and Editing
The most important rule of thumb in writing is to write clearly. Run-on sentences and fragments
are examples of writing that is not clear. These can take away from the overall appeal of the
paper. You may have to go through more than one revision before your final report is complete.
Nearly every writer does. Each round of revision gets you closer to a fine-tuned final product.
As you review, be mindful of the following: Is the language consistent? Is it in the first-person, second-person, or third-person? Are the sentences varied yet cohesive? Are there transitions between paragraphs? Does each paragraph have a topic sentence that continues the idea of the previous
paragraph, but starts a new thought process? Have all extra words, empty phrases, and weak phrasing been deleted? Is there any redundancy or irrelevant language? Is the overall word choice pertinent and appropriate? Has a basic spell-check been done? Have any questionable spellings been looked up in
an academic dictionary? Has someone else read the paper and commented on whether it covered the topic
adequately? After writing your first draft, give yourself some distance from the work. Do not continue working
on it for a day or two. Use this time to let someone else look it over with a critical eye. Take their
criticism constructively. You need it. The researcher/writer is always too close to his or her own
work so notice omissions, errors, and logical inconsistencies. These may be blatantly obvious to
others, but not to him or herself. The critic may have useful ideas about how to improve the
organization or sentence and paragraph structure. Look at these suggestions as blessings, as
they will move you to produce better work. Incorporate these suggestions and learn from them.
Revise yet again.
In the next stage, let your faculty advisor peruse your revised work. Your faculty advisor’s job is to
look for holes, so expect feedback in the form of critiques. Again, take this as an opportunity to
again improve your work. Your faculty advisor has been through this process several times and
can easily spot what needs more work. He/she may shed further light on the content, logic and
coherence of your writing. Revise some more. The purpose of this exercise is to make your
research report the very best it can possibly be. Revision is the last step in the research process.
What to Revise
There are two categories of changes that can be made during the revision process. One
is content-based, that is revising the content – making changes to the meaning of what was
written. The other is mechanics-based, revising the style, structure, and grammar, without altering
the meaning of the text.
Purdue OWL (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/) recommends the following set
of questions when conducting a content-based review:
Use the following questions to evaluate your drafts. You can use your responses to revise your
papers by reorganizing them to make your best points stand out, by adding needed information,
by eliminating irrelevant information, and by clarifying sections or sentences.
Find your main point.
What are you trying to say in the paper? In other words, try to summarize your thesis, or main
point, and the evidence you are using to support that point. Try to imagine that this paper belongs
to someone else. Does the paper have a clear thesis? Do you know what the paper is going to be
about?
Identify your readers and your purpose.
What are you trying to do in the paper? In other words, are you trying to argue with the reading, to analyze the reading, to evaluate the reading, to apply the reading to another situation, or to
accomplish another goal?
Evaluate your evidence.
Does the body of your paper support your thesis? Do you offer enough evidence to support your
claim? If you are using quotations from the text as evidence, did you cite them properly?
Save only the good pieces.
Do all of the ideas relate back to the thesis? Is there anything that doesn't seem to fit? If so, you
either need to change your thesis to reflect the idea or cut the idea.
Tighten and clean up your language.
Do all of the ideas in the paper make sense? Are there unclear or confusing ideas or sentences?
Read your paper out loud and listen for awkward pauses and unclear ideas. Cut out extra words,
vagueness, and misused words.
Eliminate mistakes in grammar and usage.
Do you see any problems with grammar, punctuation, or spelling? If you think something is
wrong, you should make a note of it, even if you don't know how to fix it. You can always talk to a
Writing Lab tutor about how to correct errors.
Switch from writer-centered to reader-centered.
Try to detach yourself from what you've written; pretend that you are reviewing someone else's
work. What would you say is the most successful part of your paper? Why? How could this part
be made even better? What would you say is the least successful part of your paper? Why? How
could this part be improved?
Revising vs. Proofreading
Revising is both a rewriting and editing process. It includes work on content and sequencing, as
well as substantive concerns in good writing. Proofreading is generally the last step in the revision
process. While revising includes substance, proofreading is more concerned with surface
presentations, mechanics or details. This is not to say that proofreading is not important. Just
imagine what spelling or grammatical errors can do to an otherwise substantive paper, giving the
impression of sloppy work.
To write effectively, it is important to develop basic grammar skills. Grammatical errors can hurt
the quality of a paper, even one that has a well-supported thesis. Invest in a grammar book or use
a reputable Internet source when facing questions about the rules of grammar. Writing style is
completely dependent on the individual writer. It is the writer's responsibility to maintain a
consistent writing style throughout a paper.
Remember, read through the paper more than twice and correct any errors. Then have a fresh
set of eyes read through the paper again.

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