1. Writing for Readers

2. AcademicWriting Academic writing is the kind of writing that you are required to do at colleges and universities. In academic writing, your audience can be your professors or instructors, your fellow students and potentially the readers of your published results. Academic writing is a “process” not a “product”

3. AcademicWriting The purpose ofwriting is to communicate a message to readers. The contentofthemessage is vitallyimportant, but so is the form. Form and contentareverycloselyrelated. Her thoughts were theorems, her words a problem, As if she deem'd that mystery would ennoble 'em (Byron: Don Juan)

4. Editing Continuouseditingallowsyou to improveyourcontent (and form). Proofreadingcanhappen at the end. Editingencompassesmanytechniques.

5. SomeEditingTechniques Read your Paper Aloud Revise any place your text is confusing, where you cannot read fluently or where your point is obscure.

6. Examine your Paragraphs Examine the overall construction of your paragraphs, looking specifically at length, supporting sentence(s), and topic sentence. Individual paragraphs that are too short or missing sufficient supporting information need to be revised. Check that your topic sentence is well developed and supported

7. InformationStructure Everytext has an informationpattern (at everylevel). Essays thatchangepatternstoooften or tooquicklyaredifficult to read. Checkyourpatterns for directionality – General-Specific, Old/New

8. Authority Academicresearchpapersrelyonprevious studies to frametheirresearch. Make sure, however, thatyourrelationship to previousresearch is balanced – neithertoodismissive nor toodeferential.

9. Proofreading Editinginvolveslookingclosely at structural forms (and otherthings) in your essay. Proofreadinglooks at formal aspectsofwriting like spelling, mechanics, grammar. Proofreadingshouldreallyalsohappencontinuously. Everypaperneeds to be proofreadbeforesubmission.

10. Technology Do not rely on your computer's spellchecker—it will not catch all mistakes. Examine each word in the paper individually by reading carefully. Moving a pencil under each line of text helps you to see each word. If necessary, check a dictionary to see that each word is spelled correctly. Be especially careful of words that are typical spelling nightmares, like "ei/ie" words and homonyms like your/you're, to/too/two, and there/their/they're.

11. SomeCommon Problems Subject/Verb Agreement Find the subject of each sentence. Find the verb that goes with the subject. The subject and verb should match in number, meaning that if the subject is plural, the verb should be as well and vice versa.

12. CommonErrors to Check Left-out and doubled words Reading the paper aloud (and slowly) can help you make sure you haven't missed or repeated any words. It is very easy to leave out some basic words or to have words doubled as a result of earlier editing.

13. SomeCommon Problems Pronoun Reference/Agreement Skim your paper, stopping at each pronoun. Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces. If you can't find any noun, insert one beforehand or change the pronoun to a noun. If you can find a noun, be sure it agrees in number and person with your pronoun.

14. SomeCommon Problems Apostrophes Skim your paper, stopping only at those words which end in "s." If the "s" is used to indicate possession, there should be an apostrophe, as in Mary's book. Look over the contractions, like you're for you are, it's for it is, etc. Each of these should include an apostrophe. Remember that apostrophes are not used to make words plural. When making a word plural, only an "s" is added, not an apostrophe and an "s."