Editing Your Paper

Editing Your Paper LESSON 10 M BETTER WRITING RIGHT NOW ... 

BETTER WRITING RIGHT NOW LESSON 10 Editing Your Paper... 

Use this Editing Checklist when you edit your paper. 

Type your essay and any other information that is allowed to be submitted on another sheet of paper on the computer. Print it out after it has been edited and proofread, then attach it to your paper application. Note in the appropriate box that your essay is attached. ... 

To edit your essay effectively, you ll need to read each paragraph a number of times, paying careful attention to your sentences and the words that comprise them. While some students edit well on the computer, many others work better on a hard copy. Unlike revising, which entails the possible reworking of large parts of your essay, editing is a word-by-word and sentence-by-sentence task. Taking pen to paper may help you focus more closely on the pieces that make up your essay, rather than the work as a whole. 

It is not always easy to consolidate and narrow down the entire essence of your paper or your research into a single sentence. But don t worry. Just as you allowed yourself to brainstorm for your outline, take a blank sheet of paper and write down a full, flowing, practice paragraph that includes several sentences about why you are writing your paper and why you think the topic is important. This gives you plenty of material to draw from and sentences to edit that are already about your topic. For example, a preliminary thesis paragraph might look like this ... 

To understand the design and function of a chemical plant it is a useful preliminary to study the flow diagram (sometimes called a flow sheet). Its purpose is to illustrate diagrammatically, on one sheet of paper, all the items of equipment required for a chemical process or series of processes to be operated. Items are represented by simple symbols which are usually those recommended by the British Standard 974 1953 and subsequent editions (your supervisor may have a copy). The route of materials through the equipment is indicated by arrows and interconnecting lines and, in some instances, the materials of construction, size or capacity, flow rates, power requirements, and pipe dimensions are also shown. 

Go under cover. Print out a draft copy of your writing, and read it with a blank piece of paper over it, revealing just one sentence at a time. This technique will encourage a careful line-by-line edit. 

We have updated, edited, and rewritten every chapter in this book and even added two more chapters, qualifying us to use the advertisers mantra, New and Improved. ARer 10 years in the market place, the need to create a third edition came to us like a paper cur from licking an envelope. We were rereading parts of the 1990 edition — the chapters on polymers — and noted we said that a big market for polyvinyl chloride was phonograph records. Later on we said, probably all the wood on the front of your console TV is polystyrene. Well, lifestyles change with time and so do technologies, stimulating us to produce a new, more usehd edition. 

If you want to emphasize your leadership qualities, don t just say that you were the editor of your college newspaper. Insfead, itemize your accomplishments. For example, you mef fight deadlines—in fact, didn t miss a single one—and published 32 editions of fhe paper over a nine-month period, and so forth. This will tell your interviewer that you are well organized and know how to meet certain business expectations. 

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