Three Drafts of the Paper

Three Drafts of the Paper Three drafts constitute the minimum that you need to write a good paper. If you followed all of these instructions, you should have a presentable paper. （drafting, revising, editing and proofreading）Plan to write three drafts of your paper. The first draft is used to get your ideas down on paper in coherent paragraphs. The second draft allows you to put your ideas in a logical order that takes the reader from your question to your conclusion. The third draft gives you a chance to eliminate grammar and spelling errors, and to make sure that your paper is ready to hand in. FIRST DRAFT: First, write an outline consisting of short phrases that represent each of the major ideas that you used to construct your answer. Then, write at least one paragraph on each item in your outline. Dont interrupt the flow of your ideas to look up a fact-if you need to look up a fact, just put a star next to the place that needs checking and keep going. Tips for writing the first draft:1. Regard the notes and information as you have grouped them for outlining, to see what comes to your mind first. If you feel you can begin with the introduction, start from the beginning. If you have difficulty writing the introduction first but feel inclined to write some other part, begin with that and return to the introduction later.2. make good use of the ideas, insights and other information you found during your initial research3. do not stop to polish your sentences or to find the perfect word every now and then. Be not too concerned with grammar, spelling, punctuation, the main concern is to get ideas out according to the paln and outline. Focus on the rationality and logical sequence of your ideas and other important concerns.4. refer to your outline often as you draft. Do not lose track or direction. Only if it is necessary can you change your outline.5. leave enough margins or space for later ideas and revision. Writing style of graduation paper:1. usually, write in the third person2. write straightforwardly3. always refer to individuals by their full name or by surname alone4. write as specifically as possible5. change or eliminate wording that shows bias towards a persons sex, age, race, political attitude, religious beliefs, etc.6. try to use direct quotations very sparingly in your thesis7. refer to a composition textbook or handbook for particulars about writing style and conventionlanguage focus: tense choice: past; present perfect; presentmajor elements for unity and coherence1. unity2. coherencea. transitional words and phrasesb. pronounsc. repetitiond. consistent point of viewe. integration of informationSECOND DRAFT: Put aside your first draft for at least one day so that you can reread it with a fresh mind. Read the whole thing through completely before you start to rewrite it. After you have finished reading the entire paper, ask the following quesitons: Does the paper still seem as logical to you today as it did on the day that you wrote it? If not, then does your paper simply need transition sentences to connect your paragraphs together, or do you need to rearrange your paragraphs into a new order? Is there anything-a concept, a place name or an idea- mentioned in any of your paragraphs that will be unfamiliar to the reader? If so, then can you explain it clearly by adding a descriptive phrase or sentence, or do you need to add an additional paragraph to explain it fully? Have you answered the question completely? Imagine that this was someone elses paper and your assignment was to disprove the argument. Have you omitted anything that is needed to make the logic of your argument clear? After you have done all of that, this is a good time to let someone else read your paper. A pair of fresh eyes will find mistakes that you cannot find, and someone who is not familiar with the topic can tell you whether your organization makes sense. THIRD DRAFT: Now is the time to reread your paper for spelling and grammatical errors. First, run a spell-checker on your paper to get all of the easy errors. Then go through it line by line and look for the following things: 1. Make sure that every sentence has a subject and a verb, and that all of your verbs are in the correct tense-usually simple past tense, since you are writing about things that took place in the past. Get rid of all verb contractions. 2. Look at every indefinite pronoun-he, they, it and so on- and make sure that it is clear to the reader to whom or what each pronoun refers. 3. Look at every foreign word and proper name to make sure it is spelled correctly. Use a dictionary to be certain. 4. Look for words like their and there, its and its and where and were that can fool your spell-checker. Make sure that you have used them correctly. 5. Make sure that no words are missing from your sentences, and that there are no extra words are left over from an earlier draft (like the third are in this sentence). 6. Make sure that every abbreviation is also spelled out the first time that it appears in your paper. Textual developmentI. two types of research paper: theoretical/ experimental1. The typical features of papers of theoretical nature are embodied in many aspects, i.e., description, logical development, and reasoning (persuasion).1). Two basic approaches to description: Objective description/subjective description2). General requirements for research description a. presenting a picture of the objectb. illustrating the object in artificial languagec. making necessary comparisond. sizing the object speciallye. locating the object correctlyf. generalizing/systemizing the observation carefully2). Logical development a. developing by chronological sequenceb. developing by investigation proceduresc. developing the research “from abstract to concrete”d. developing the research “from concrete to abstract”e. developing by using other logical sequencing3). Reasoning (persuasion) In making an analysis, the devices of citation, quotation, verification, and so on are also frequently employed.Section of conclusionAs the end- result of the whole paper, conclusion (also called summary) is the final view point drawn by the authors after investigations, experiments, inferences, discussions and so on.I. general functions and main elements of conclusionTypical functions of the conclusion of a research paper may include:a. summing up It is to summarize the chief pieces of pure facts, data and information in the paper. You should make sure that you actually sum up with due emphasis the principal items of information in the main body of the paper and that you include only material that appeared earlier in an expanded form.b. statement of conclusionsMake certain that the conclusions follow logically from the data presented actually in the main body of the paper and that they agree with whatever you may have promised to testify in the introduction. c. statement of recommendationsBe sure that your recommendations do follow logically from data and conclusions presented earlier, and do not dangle as proposals that you think are good but for which you have given no supporting evidence, and that , as with conclusions, they should never clash with what you may have expected to do in your introduction.d. graceful termination. Graceful termination is achieved when all the materials of the conclusions are smoothly woven together and satisfactorily round off the whole. Be on guard against duplicating large portions of the introduction in the conclusion. II. requirements for writing a conclusion1. be careful not to draw conclusions from data involving errors of observation, errors in arithmetic, compensating errors, systematic or personal errors.2. do not use mathematical formulas without clearly understanding of derivations and all the assumptions involved.3. be cautious in comparing conclusions based upon experiments in which the influential conditions have been improperly controlled, and therefore not duplicated.4. avoid confusing facts with opinions of influences, not only in the investigation itself but also