Drafting and Revising

Introduction

Writing your first draft

Revising your draft

Proofreading and correcting your draft

Talk About It

Your Turn

Tech Tools in this presentation

•Using Find to help in revision

A rough sketch provides an overall plan for the painting.

Introduction

Drafting your research paper is like creating a painting from an initial sketch.

Then, an artist uses paint to add color and detail.

Now you will add details and transitions to build your outline into a first draft.

Introduction

You have already sketched out your ideas in an early organizational plan, which you developed into a formal outline.

Writing your first draft

Your introduction is your chance to capture your reader’s attention and state your thesis.

Transition smoothly to your thesis statement.

Provide necessary background information.

Pique your audience’s curiosity with a striking detail or quotation.

“Into the furnace let me go

alone” (McKay 15). In this line,

poet Claude McKay describes the

anguish of facing discrimination.

He wrote the line in response to

the racial conflicts he witnessed

after moving to New York City.

McKay’s early poetry collections

reflect how his life changed

after he immigrated to the United

States from Jamaica.

“Into the furnace let me go

alone” (McKay 15). In this line,

poet Claude McKay describes the

anguish of facing discrimination.

He wrote the line in response to

the racial conflicts he witnessed

after moving to New York City.

McKay’s early poetry collections

reflect how his life changed

after he immigrated to the United

States from Jamaica.

“Into the furnace let me go

alone” (McKay 15). In this line,

poet Claude McKay describes the

anguish of facing discrimination.

He wrote the line in response to

the racial conflicts he witnessed

after moving to New York City.

McKay’s early poetry collections

reflect how his life changed

after he immigrated to the United

States from Jamaica.

As you write the body of your paper, each main section(I, II, III level) will become the topic of one or more paragraphs.

Claude McKay was born and raised

in Sunny Ville, Jamaica.

Writing your first draft

Each subtopic in your outline (A, B, C level) will become the main idea of one or more paragraphs in your paper.

Claude McKay was born and raised

in Sunny Ville, Jamaica. McKay’s

education in Jamaica came from

both formal and informal sources.

Writing your first draft

Each supporting detail (1, 2, 3 level) in your outline will provide facts, reasons, and examples to support your main ideas.

Claude McKay was born and raised in Sunny

Ville, Jamaica. McKay’s education in

Jamaica came from both formal and informal

sources. McKay had nine older siblings. One

of his older brothers, a teacher, took on

the responsibility of providing his early

schooling.

Writing your first draft

Writing your first draft

As you develop your body paragraphs, you must elaborate on the material in your outline.

Clarify connections between concepts by synthesizing information and using transition words and phrases.

Support main points with facts, statistics, reasons, examples, or quotations from your notes.

McKay published the collection Songs of Jamaica

in 1912. “McKay is able to capture the musical

voices of his homeland” (Rashad 44).

McKay published the collection Songs of Jamaica

in 1912. In these poems, McKay uses dialect to

“capture the musical voices of his homeland”

(Rashad 44).

The quotation in this example disrupts the flow of ideas by introducing a new idea without proper connection.

Adding a transition before the quotation clarifies the connection between the author’s ideas.

Writing your first draft

Use transitions to integrate summaries, paraphrases, and quotations smoothly into your writing.

Writing your first draft

Your readers can refer to a citation to locate the appropriate entry in your Works Cited list.

Remember to cite the source of any quotation, fact, or idea from a source other than you. Use parenthetical citations to credit sources within your paper.

In these poems, McKay uses dialect to “capture the

musical voices of his homeland” (Rashad 44).

A parenthetical citation lists the author’s last name and the page number that contains the information.

Rashad, Harim. Claude McKay’s Dialect Poems. New

York: Literary Press, 2005. Print.

Writing your first draft

An effective conclusion provides a final assessment of your ideas without repeating your introduction.

McKay’s early poems reflect his

move from Jamaica to the United

States.

Review the purpose of your research and draw final conclusions about your topic.

Leave a strong impression by restating the thesis.

Close your paper by leaving the reader with a new thought or insight.

McKay’s early poems reflect his

move from Jamaica to the United

States. By contrasting McKay’s

works created in Jamaica with

those written in New York,

readers learn how facing

discrimination changed McKay’s

purpose for writing poetry.

McKay’s early poems reflect his

move from Jamaica to the United

States. By contrasting McKay’s

works created in Jamaica with

those written in New York,

readers learn how facing

discrimination changed McKay’s

purpose for writing poetry.

McKay inspired further

generations to use poetry as a

form of social protest.

Once your initial draft is complete, you are ready to begin revising your draft. Ask yourself the following questions about your draft:

Revising your draft

1. Does my introduction grab the reader’s attention, provide an overview of the topic, and state my thesis?

2. Does my thesis include a clear controlling idea?

3. Have I supported my ideas with factual information?

Revising your draft

6. Have I used correct MLA or APA format in my citations?

7. Have I presented my ideas in a logical order?

4. Have I used paraphrases, summaries, and direct quotations effectively?

5. Have I credited sources when necessary?

8. Does my conclusion restate my thesis?

You can use the Find feature of your word-processing program/Google Doc to help you proofread your research paper.

Tech Tool: Using Find to help in revision

To access this feature, select Find from the Edit menu.

You can search for words you might overuse.

The Find feature can also show you if you have overused a certain type of sentence construction in your writing.

Tech Tool: Using Find to help in revision

Search for and, but, or, for, so to locate compound sentences.

Search for which or that to find complex sentences.

McKay portrayed the voices of the Jamaican people

in these poems, and he idealized their way of life.

McKay became an editor for The Liberator, which

allowed him to reach a wider literary audience.

Proofreading and correcting your draft

Proofread and correct your work to polish it for your audience. Regardless of your final publishing format, your final product should be legible and error-free.

Even a single error can cause your audience to doubt the credibility of your information.

During the “Red Summer” of

1919, McKay established a

new purpose for his poetry.

During the “Red Summer” of

2919, McKay established a

new purpose for his poetry.

Proofreading and correcting your draft

Ask yourself these questions to guide your proofreading:

2. Have I placed and punctuated my citations according to MLA or APA format?

1. Have I used conventions of punctuation correctly, including italics, ellipses, and dashes?

3. Have I spelled all words correctly?

Online dictionaries such as YourDictionary.com and Dictionary.com can help you check your spelling.

Talk About It

Discuss these questions in your notes:

1. In what order do you usually write the sections (introduction, body, conclusion) of a research paper? Why? What does this tell you about your writing?

2. Have you ever used a wiki to draft a paper? Would you try it in the future? Why or why not?

3. How could you use the Find feature in a word-processing program/Google Doc to edit your work? Think about words that you overuse or frequently misspell.

The End