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Berkeley HISTORY 2 - Selfeditingguide

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HIST 2BProf. Figliulo-RosswurmW17 Writing skills5 things to look for/do while editing1. Introduction: a.The introduction should not use the words: “compare”, “contrast”, “similar”, or “different”. You should be able to express your argument without resorting to these words.b.It should not use any form of “to be”: am, is, are, was, were, have been, being. c. It should not use the passive voice (#2).d.It should not use “I will argue” or “I am going to argue” (These are great waysto start practice theses, but the final one should be re-worded more formally)2. The use of the passive voice: Read your paper backwards (so you don’t get caught up actually reading it) and highlight/underline/circle all forms of “to be”in brightly-colored pen. Look for: am, is, are, was, were, have been, being.a.Are there any paragraphs with a lot of highlighting? Arguments that use “to be” frequently tend to be very weak and will drag down your paper’s argument. b.Forms of “to be” are also used in the passive voice, which is a weaker expression of argument. In the passive voice the direct object acts as the subject and the real subject as the nominal recipent, i.e. “The gift was given by Judy to me”. In active voice: “Judy gave me the gift.” 3. Spell check by hand!: Computer spell checks often miss misspellings because the word is technically a word, just not the correct one (for example “tea” for “the”). Computer spellchecks also miss capitalization mistakes.4. Check for grammar and flow:a.Read the paper aloud, slowly. If you feel weird reading it to yourself find a friend sit down and listen to it. It should take about 10 minutes to read a 7-page paper aloud. While you’re reading listen for these things (ask your audience to do the same):i. Do you stumble over any sentences? What’s throwing you off?ii. Are the sentences hard to say without taking a breath? (They’re probably run-ons!)iii. Do your sentences flow? Or is there an awkward shift between sentences or paragraphs?b.Watch for words that are spelled similiarly but have different meanings, for example: their, they’re, there or whether and weather.c. Tense consistency. Do you switch between the past and the present? History papers should be written in past tense.d.Circle and excise all contractions!5. Logic and argumentation development: If possible, let your paper sit for one day without working on it. If that isn’t possible, at least let it sit for a couple hours and do something else in between. Then, come back and read it slowly. a.Does each point you make build logically on your previous one?b.Does your conclusion tie all of the points you proved with evidence in the body of your paper together back into your main (thesis)


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