Chapter 14

Comprehensive Self-Editing Checklist

for Refining the Final Draft
The final draft should be as accurate and error-free as possible in tem1s of both its
content and its mechanics and style. After you have carefully considered the feedback
you received from your peers and academic advisers, and after you have revised the
manuscript in light of their input, you should carefully edit your manuscript a final time.
The purpose for this final review is accuracy.
The items in the following checklist are grouped according to some of the major
criteria instructors use in evaluating student writing. Most of these criteria are absolutely
critical when one is writing a thesis or disse1iation. However, your instructor may relax
some of them in the case of term papers written during a single semester.
You will find that most of the items on the checklist were presented in the earlier
chapters as guidelines, but many additional ones have been added in an attempt to cover
common problems that are sometimes overlooked by student writers. You should show
this checklist to your instructors and ask that they add or eliminate items according to
their own preferences.
Keep in mind that the checklist is designed to help you to refine the manuscript.
Ultimately, the extent of perfection you achieve will depend on how meticulously you
edit your own work.

Adherence to the Writing Process for Editing and Redrafting

______1.

Have you asked your instructors to review this checklist and to add or delete
items according to their preferences?
______2.
After finishing your last draft, did you set your manuscript aside for several
days before you began to revise it (i.e., did you create an appropriate dis
tance from your manuscript before changing roles from "writer" to
"reader")?
___Yes___3. Did you ask one or more persons to review your manuscript?
______4.
Have you addressed all the questions raised by your reviewers?
______5.
Did you reconcile all differences of opinion among your reviewers?

Importance or Significance of the Topic

__Yes____6. Is your topic important, from either a theoretical or a practical perspective?
__Yes____7. Does it present a fresh perspective or identify a gap in the literature (i.e.,
does it address a question not previously addressed)?
_Yes_____8. Is your topic's significance or importance demonstrated and justified?
_Yes_____9. Is this an appropriate topic for your field of study?

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Chapter 14 Comprehensive Self-Editing Checklist for Refining the Final Draft

Yes__10. Is the topic timely in terms of what is being reported in the research litera
ture?
__Yes_11. Does the title of your manuscript adequately describe the subject of your re
view?

Organization and Other Global Considerations

Yes __12. Does your review include an introduction along with a discussion and con
clusions section?
_Yes__13. Did you include a reference list?
_Yes__14. Does the length and organization of your review follow the criteria set forth
by (a) your instructor, if you are writing a term paper; (b) your committee
chair, if you are writing a thesis or dissertation; or (c) the publication guide
lines of the journal you have targeted, if you are writing for publication?

Effectiveness of the Introduction

__Yes_15. Does your introduction describe the scope of the literature you have re
viewed and why the topic is important?
___Yes 16. Did you describe in your introduction the general structure of your paper?
__Yes__17. Does your introduction identify the line of argumentation you have followed
in your manuscript?
___Yes 18. Does the introduction state what will and will not be covered, if this is ap
propriate?
___Yes__19. Does the introduction specify your thesis statement or point of view, if this is
relevant?

Currency and Relevance of the Literature Cited

__Yes__20. Did you review the most current articles on the topic?
___Yes_21. Are the studies you reviewed current?
__Yes__22. If you have included older articles, did you have a good reason for including
them?
__Yes__23. Have you explained why you have described some findings as being strong?
___Yes__24. Have you explained why you have described other findings as being weak?
__Yes__25. Did you identify the major patterns or trends in the literature?
___Yes___26. Have you identified in your manuscript the classic or landmark studies
you cited?
____Yes_27. Did you specify the relationship of these classic studies to subsequent stud
ies they may have influenced?

Thoroughness and Accuracy of the Literature Reviewed

__Yes__28. Is the coverage of your review adequate?
___Yes_29. Have you noted and explained the gaps in the literature?
__Yes__30. Have you described any pertinent controversies in the field?
__Yes__31. If you answered "yes" to Item 30, did you make clear which studies fall on
either side of the controversy?

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______32. Have you checked the draft for parallelism?

______33. Have you noted and explained the relationships among studies, such as
which ones came first? Which ones share similarities? Which ones have dif
ferences?
___Yes___34. Did you indicate the source of key terms or concepts?
____Yes__35. Are there gaps in the body of your manuscript?

Coherence and Flow of the Path of the Argument

___Yes___36. Does each study you reviewed correspond with a specific part of your
topic outline?
______37. Have you deleted citations to studies you decided not to include in your review because they do not relate to the path of your argument?
______38. Is the path of your argument made clear throughout the manuscript?
______39. Does each part of your review flow logically from the preceding part?
______40. If you have used "meta-comments" (see Chapter 10, Guideline 6), are they
essential?
______41. If you have used subheadings, do they help to advance your argument?
______42. If you have not used subheadings, would adding them help to advance your
argument?
______43. Is your manuscript coherent, or would additional transitional devices help to
clarify how it holds together?

Effectiveness of the Conclusion

_Yes_____44. Does your conclusion provide closure for the reader?
______45. Does your conclusion make reference to the line of argumentation you speci
fied in the introduction?

Accuracy of Citations and the Reference List

______46. Have you checked your style manual's guidelines for citing references in the
narratative (e.g., when to use parentheses, how to cite multiple authors, and
how to cite a secondary source)?
______47. Have you checked each citation in the manuscript to make sure that it ap
pears on your reference list?
______48. Have you checked all entries on the reference list to make sure that each one
is cited in your manuscript?
______49. Have you eliminated all entries from your reference list that are not cited in
the manuscript?
______50. Are most of the dates of the studies included in the reference list within the
recent past?
______51. Have you checked for accuracy and consistency between the dates in your
manuscript and the dates in your reference list?
______52. Have you checked the accuracy of the spelling of the authors' names in your
manuscript and in your reference list?

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Mechanics and Overall Accuracy of the Manuscript

______53.
______54.
______55.
______56.
______57.
______58.

Did you read and edit your manuscript carefully?

Did you perform a final spell-check of the entire manuscript?
Are your margins set appropriately?
Did you number all the pages?
Is your manuscript double-spaced?
Did you include your full name (and, for theses and dissertations, your telephone number or e-mail address?

Appropriateness of Style and Language Usage

__ Yes ____59. Have you carefully reviewed the appropriate style manual for your field?
___ Yes ___60. Have you checked your manuscript for consistency with your style manual?
__ Yes ____61. Are your headings formatted in accordance with the guidelines specified in
the appropriate style manual?
__ Yes ____62. If you used Latin abbreviations (such as i.e., e.g., etc.), are they in parentheses, and have you checked for the required punctuation?
__ Yes ____63. If you have used long quotations, are they absolutely necessary?
__ Yes ____64. Does each quotation contribute significantly to the review?
__ Yes ____65. Can any of these quotations be paraphrased?
______66. Did you avoid the use of synonyms for the important key terms and concepts?
______67. If you have coined a new term, is it set off in quotations the first time it is
used?
______68. Have you avoided slang terms, colloquialisms, and idioms?
_ Yes _____69. Have you avoided contradictions?
__ ____70. Have you included any annotations that are not linked to the path of the argument of your review?
______71. Have you avoided using a series of annotations?
______72. Have you spelled all acronyms I full on the first mention?
______73. If you have used the first person, is it appropriate?
_ Yes _____74. Have you avoided using sexist language?
______75, If you used numbers in the narrative of your review, did you ensure that you
spelled the numbers zero through nine in full?
______76. If you used a noun followed by a number to denote a specific place in a sequence, did you capitalize the noun (as in Item 76 of this checklist)?
______77. If you used a number to begin a sentence, did you spell it in full?

Grammatical Accuracy
______78. Did you check your manuscript for grammatical correctness?
______79. Is every sentence of your manuscript a complete sentence?
______80. Have you avoided using indirect sentence constructions (as in, In Galvans
study, it was found.:)?
______81. Have you been consistent in your use of tenses (e.g., if you use the present
tense in describing the studys findings, do you use this tense throughout,
unless you are commenting on the historical relationship among studies)?
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Chapter 14 Comprehensive Self-Editing Checklist for Refining the Final Draft

______82. Have you checked for the proper use of commas and other punctuation
marks?
______83. Have you attempted to avoid complicated sentence structures
______84. If you have any long sentences (e.g., several lines), have you a t t e m p t e d t o
break them down into two or more sentences?
______85. If you have any long paragraphs (e.g., a page or longer), have you attempted
to break them down into two or more paragraphs?

Additional Editing Steps for Non-Native English Speakers and Students

With Serious Writing Difficulties
_ Yes _____86. If your proficiency in English is not at a high level, have you asked a proofreader for assistance?
___ Yes ___87. Have you checked the entire manuscript for the proper article usage (e.g., a,
an, the)?
__ Yes ____88. Have you checked the manuscript for proper use of prepositions?
___ Yes ___89. Have you checked each sentence for proper subject-verb agreement?
__ Yes ____90. Have you checked the manuscript for proper use of idiomatic expressions?

Additional Guidelines Suggested by Your Instructor

______91.

Well formatted, cohesive Re-read/proof for verb tense

______92.
______93.

Page 3 into, technologically progression? Is it supposed to be progressive?

______94.
______95.

From: Kida, Pamela

Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2016 10:11 AM
To: Weaver, Melissa; Peters, Lisa; Aviki, Silva
Subject: Wiki Checklist for team Barriers to Learning

Good Morning team Personalized Learning,

I tried to go through this checklist for team Barriers to Learning. The check list was
designed for the originating team as if they did 'these things'. I marked where I could
and added a couple of comments. Maybe we should combine our comments into one
Wiki Checklist? Attached is my updated Wiki Checklist.

Generally, I thought the 'Barriers to Change' literature review was very well done and
well formatted. It was interesting and well cited. The only real suggestion I had was
for the team to check their verb tenses and some of the sentence structures.

I picked up that our team needs to add 'Keywords' to our literature review
(suggestions: Personalized Learning, 21st-century learning skills, professional
development, Inclusion, Educational technology'

Thanks everyone,

Pam Kida

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