Rarely (if ever) is a great research paper written in one go. To really polish your work and make sure that your paper woks as a whole you will have to revise your first draft.  In fact, most likely you will have to revise your original draft multiple times.   This will help ensure that you are logically arguing and presenting your central thesis in a way that both your professor and other members of your class can understand and follow.  The following two videos provide a number of useful tips to help you get the most out of the revision process.

How to Revise a Rough Draft

Making the Final Revision(s)

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Points to Remember

• Take a break before starting the revision process - you want to view your paper with a fresh pair of eyes
• Make sure that your paper logically flows
• Polish up the grammar and style of your paper
• Remove unnecessary or redundant sections and material
• Check that you are using a sufficient number and variety of sources - don’t just rely on one or two sources
• Ensure that you are using your resources well - use them to help the flow and argument of your paper, not for the sake of having sources
• Write your paper with your audience in mind - make sure that it is written in a style that they would enjoy eating
• Make multiple revisions - as many as you need to produce a well-written, high-quality, professional paper

Revision Tips

• Read your paper out-loud
• Read it slowly
• Print it out and read and revise the printed copy
• Mark areas that you need to work on later with a red pen

The 8 Steps to Writing a Great Research Paper

1. Pick a good, well-focused topic that you are interested in
2. Determine the goal and/or purpose of your paper
3. Gather together the best resources available on your topic
4. Study and take notes of your resources
5. Turn your notes into a well-organized outline
6. Write a rough draft
7. Revise (over and over again) your rough draft
8. Get feedback from friends, colleagues and experts (then rewrite again)

All Tutorials in This Series

1. How to Write a Great College Research Paper
2. How to Choose a Topic for a Research Paper
3. How to Narrow the Focus of Your Paper Topic
4. How to Determine the Purpose of Your Paper
5. How to Research a Topic
6. How to Take Notes for Your Research Paper
7. How to Write an Outline
8. How to Write a Rough Draft
9. How to Revise a Rough Draft
10. Getting Feedback on Your College Paper
11. Make the Effort to Write a Great Paper