Grammar Software

Remember how it’s always good to set your paper aside after finishing a draft?  Well, this is for that time when you return to it after the brief period of separation.

Basically, what you’re going to do at this point is revision – objectively rewriting parts of your paper in order to improve them.  The first step to revising is to look at the big picture and implement large-scale  revisions when needed.  These questions should help guide you about what to look for.

1. Did you meet all the requirements of the assignment brief?   Obviously, if the paper doesn’t supply what’s been asked in the brief, it’s unfinished.  Review the assignment, checking whether your paper answers every question, uses every required reference and discusses every idea outlined in the requirements.  If it doesn’t, fix them.
2. Did your ideas come out the way you wanted them to?  Were you able to communicate your message clearly or is there risk of the reader understanding things differently?  Never allow the reader any room for misinterpretation.
3. What general strengths does your paper have?  Figuring out the strong points of your paper is good practice for developing a critical eye.  For the purposes of your paper, it also lets you know which sections aren’t due for a revision and should be kept out of when you’re doing your rewriting.
4. What general weaknesses does it exhibit?  List down the general weaknesses first.  Only after you’ve identified the different weak areas of your piece should you try formulating a plan to address them individually.

After these “big picture” revisions, you’ll still have to do smaller-scale ones, such as editing and proofreading, much of which you can probably accomplish using an effective grammar software.