How to Self-Edit Your Academic Writing

Part of the writing process is rewriting. This happens on both the macro and micro scale. From looking at the bigger picture and carefully considering what works and what doesn’t, to looking at the article word by word. All of these components come together to make a clear, educational piece of academic writing. How to reach this goal, though, takes several steps. Self-editing requires more than one pass in order to perfect a piece of writing—or get as close to perfect as possible.

While there are services that provide editing for you, learning how to self-edit is important. It helps you think critically about your work, improves your grammar and punctuation, and ensures that you maintain control over the content. Additionally, the better you get at self-editing your work, the more time and money you save down the line. This is because the manuscripts you submit to journals will need less intervention by the in-house editors, and you won’t need your work double-checked prior to submission.

If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve provided a few jumping-off points below.

What is self-editing?

Editing is the process of correcting grammar, punctuation, structure, and clarity prior to publication. To self-edit is to perform this process without the help of an expert editor. Editing generally takes place after the entire project has been written. This way, there’s a clear picture of the errors within the article and of what changes need to be made. A well-edited piece is also more likely to be published, since a nearly error-free manuscript is considered to be more professional.

The degrees of editing

Within editing, there are different levels. There’s language/line editing, which evaluates the overall flow, structure, and readability of the piece. It looks at how sentences are constructed. Are they awkward? Do they convey their intended meaning? Do they make sense within the context of the paragraph? It also looks at grammar conventions, such as word choice, consistency in terminology, and the formalness of the tone. Language editing ensures that the writing makes sense to the reader, leaving no room for ambiguity. In scientific writing, this is especially important, since the data should be presented straightforwardly without the possibility of multiple interpretations.

Proofreading is what happens after an article has been edited for clarity. This is where small spelling and punctuation errors are cleaned up, since they can be missed on the first couple passes. If the article is being submitted to a particular journal, proofreading can also include making changes that align with the journal’s style guide. This could be the English language variant (American or British) used, capitalization of terms, and whether or not numbers are spelled out.

The three pass rule

As mentioned in the section above, editing usually takes place across multiple passes. A pass is when the manuscript is read in full while making edits. One pass is rarely enough to guarantee an error-free article, especially if you’re self-editing. This is because our minds can easily filter out issues by correcting them while reading. If we already know what we meant to say, then the mistake won’t be obvious since, mentally, we’ve filled in the gaps.

A pass for every degree of self-editing

The first pass deals with the big picture. This means that language and punctuation aren’t the concern, but rather the overall structure. For example, you could rearrange sections on the first pass so that it follows the IMRaD framework. You’ll want to deeply read your arguments, trying to imagine them from the perspective of an outsider. Perhaps even at this stage, showing it to a colleague or friend will help you see where your ideas are unclear.

The second pass is where language editing comes into play. Now that you know how the larger parts are working together, you can begin to go through the piece line by line. You’ll still want to pay attention to structure, but this will happen on a smaller scale. You’ll be evaluating how you’ve organized your paragraphs, their sentences, and whether or not every word and punctuation used aids clarity or makes things difficult to understand.

This is also the pass where you look for tonal issues. Typically, academic articles require a formal voice. This means avoid using contractions, and spell them out where you have.

Some helpful tips

• Read your work aloud during this stage. It’ll force you to slow down while self-editing. It’ll also encourage you to be more critical about how your writing flows. Are you stumbling? Do you have to reread certain phrases in order to understand them? Highlight these places to apply changes.
• Use a spell checker. These tools can’t find all issues, such as syntax errors or awkward word choices, but they are a good place to start. Spell checkers can also help you measure how many potential errors are in the document.

The last step

The third pass is for finalizing the details. This means you’re not doing an intense search of the paper for issues. Rather, you’re cleaning up mistakes left behind from spell checker tools, errors you may have introduced or missed, and any other tweaks that need to be made. At this point, it’s assumed there are no clarity concerns and the content of your article is in good shape.

How self-editing makes you a better writer

The process of reading your work critically strengthens your writing. This is because you’re tasked with looking at your article through the lens of an outsider. You have to ask yourself whether your ideas are being communicated effectively. Even if you may like the way you’ve phrased something, or have included information that is unnecessary to your study, carefully evaluating whether this material assists your piece is a crucial skill to master.

The more self-editing you do, the more you apply those changes to your work as you write. You become more aware of your habits as a writer through this repetitive reading. Do you like to construct sentences a certain way, and sometimes they can be overly long and complex? Do you have a habit of inconsistently capitalizing or italicizing terms?

Additionally, self-editing requires you to constantly look up and learn grammar and punctuation conventions. The more you review the rules, apply them, and correct them, the more likely you are to remember them when you’re writing the initial draft. This will save you time down the road.

When to outsource the task

Self-editing is helpful for all researchers to do. However, you may not always have the time to edit your work. You also may be an early-career researcher or a non-native English speaker, meaning some outside advice is useful for your first couple papers.

Knowing when your paper will be better off receiving a professional edit is important. It could be the difference between publication and rejection. If you’re overwhelmed by the process or are spending too much time making changes and reverting them, having an example of a proper edit could be beneficial.

Most professional editors and services use tracked changes. This means you can clearly see the mistakes you made and how they were fixed. This can also be used as a learning tool when you’re ready to practice self-editing again.

Part of self-editing is being decisive. What words can stay, where punctuation should go, and whether another set of eyes is necessary are all questions that need to be answered. The more you do this, the easier the process will become, and the better your writing will be overall.