EDITING AND REVISING RESEARCHIf you have your paper, get in the circle. If not, sit in the desks along the wall.

NUMBERS

Look for all numbers in the paper. If any are incorrect, highlight them.

Spell out a number that begins a sentence. Spell out a number that expresses order (i.e.

first, second, third, etc.) Spell out a number that tells how many if it is

one or two words. If it is longer than two words, write it numerically.

Use numerals to express numbers in conventional situations (like percentages, dates, addresses, times, etc.)

CITATIONS

Highlight all parenthetical citations in your paper. Then check for…

1. the period. It should go only after the parentheses. Not before and after. Not just before. Just after. Like this: It’s been proven that ice cream makes you happy. (“Happiness 101”).

2. the titles. Titles must be capitalized! No, I don’t mean IN ALL CAPS. The major words should be capitalized like this: The Walking Dead. Notice that the title was italicized because it’s a major work. If it’s an article title, it should be in “quotation marks”, like “Where the Sidewalk End”

FORMAT

Check for MLA formatting—this should be the easiest part of your research paper grade! Make any corrections with a red pen.

- Margins should be 1” - 4-line heading (Name, Teacher’s Name, English

II-#, Date [24 October 2012]) This should NOT be on every page

- Double spaced (with no extra lines between paragraphs)

- Header (in same font—Last name and page #). This should be on every page.

- Title should be the same font/size as the rest of the paper. No bold, italics, or underlined.

POINT OF VIEW

Highlight ALL instances of first (I, me, my, we, our, us, etc.) or second (you, your, etc.) person. Eliminate these from your paper. Consider substituting “one” or “some” (or ask me if you can’t figure it out).

CONTRACTIONS

Search for any contractions in your paper and highlight when you spot them. Fix ‘em.

CONJUNCTIONS There’s nothing wrong with conjunctions; you just

usually don’t want to start a sentence with one. The coordinating conjuntions: for, and, nor, but, or,

yet, so (FANBOYS). If you started any sentences with one of these words,

highlight and see if it needs fixing. Usually it can just be taken out of the sentence. If it doesn’t make sense that way, change the period before the conjunction to a comma.

Sometimes it’s okay to leave it there, just think very carefully about why it’s there and see if your sentence would be improved without it.

**Hint: the most common sentence-starting conjuctions are “and,” “but,” and “so.”

WORKS CITED

Should have header (Last Name Page #). Title should read Works Cited (no bold, italics,

underline) Sources should be in alphabetical order Format: double-spaced with hanging indents Should not have your heading (name,

teacher, date, etc) If the paper you are reading does not have a

Works Cited page, write this on the FRONT page of their paper:

YOU WILL FAIL WITHOUT A WORKS CITED!