Editing

In writing a final draft, the quality of language and the logic of the argument are the principal concerns: by the final draft, there should be no factual, grammatical, or spelling errors. Producing the final draft is therefore mainly a matter of thoroughly editing your penultimate draft. It involves careful copy editing.

There are two types of editing. The first, often called substantive editing, is for sense: read each sentence making certain that it is complete (has a subject, a verb, and if necessary, an object), and that the preceding and following sentences are linked and logical. Examine each section of the essay for clarity and coherence. You might ask yourself the questions listed below.

1. Introduction: Is it interesting? Is the thesis statement clear? Does it define the exact subject and express a point of view? Does the statement of organization cover all the topics?
2. Main Body: Does each paragraph cover a different point? Does it contain a rich vocabulary? Does it have a topic sentence? Is it really relevant to the thesis? Are all necessary details present, and do they support the topic sentence and in turn the thesis?
3. Conclusion: Does it restate the thesis? Does it provide a summary of the material? Does it present a clear, valid conclusion?

The second type of editing is usually called copy editing, and is effectively done line-by-line, from the end to the beginning of the document. As you copy edit, you check spelling, typing, footnote numbers, consistency of capitalization, etc. This step is a crucial one in the preparation of essays, because many small, annoying errors can be as damaging to the sense and impact of your essay as a few large, obvious ones. A word of warning: good copy editing is a difficult task for an author, because one tends to see what one expects rather than what is actually there. A different pair of eyes, coming fresh to the text, will normally pick up typos that you have missed simply because you are too familiar with your own work to notice them. Hence, if you can find someone else to help you read your final draft, you will almost certainly end up with a cleaner, more error-free, manuscript. An alternative, but second-best, strategy is to put your final draft in a drawer for a couple of days before attempting to copy edit yourself. Even if time pressure precludes this option and you have nobody available to help you, it is important that you do your best to copy edit your paper. Copy editing is the last stage of the essay writing process. It will be very evident to your reader if you have not taken the trouble to finish the job properly.