Welcome to the Research Planning Guide

You've finished writing your paper, congratulations!  BUT WAIT! You're not finished, yet.  There's still more work to do. 

Look at it this way: Suppose you are a woodworker, and a client has ordered a custom-built chair.  You've made the parts and put the chair together, but it's not ready for delivery yet.  You need to test it, to make sure it can hold up when someone sits on it.  You need to sand it, to make sure there are no splinters or rough edges that will injure your client or ruin his clothes. You need to stain or seal the wood to protect it, and then polish it until it shines.  After this important work has been accomplished, you're finally ready to deliver your product. 

The same is true with your paper.  Before it's ready to turn in, you need to:

• Test it - does it make sense? Have you supported your arguments? Is your research adequate?
• Sand it - are there spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors that could interfere with the smooth communication of your ideas?
• Polish it - format your paper in the style recommended or required by your professor. 

Your paper is not ready for "delivery" until all these steps have been accomplished. Here are some links to other websites that discuss the importance of revising and rewriting your original draft:

• Revising Drafts - strategies for effective revisions, from the University of North Carolina.
• Revising the Draft - from Harvard, this site offers excellent suggestions for revising, plus a great example of revisions from E.B. White.

Proofreading is essential!  You've worked so hard on your paper up to this point—why would you waste all that time and effort by skipping the step that will help to make your paper the best it can be? 

Written communication is much harder than most people think.  When you're talking to your friends or family, you use words, of course, but you have other tools to help get your message across.  Your facial expressions, vocal inflections, and gestures help convey your meaning to your listeners.  But when you write, you only have your words.  You need to make sure that you have said what you mean to say.  That's when proofreading can really help.

There are several ways to proofread:

• Start by running the spelling and grammar check program installed with your word processing software.
• Read your paper out loud to yourself. Often you will notice when something is not quite right.
• Ask a friend or family member to read your paper. Better yet, read your paper out loud and encourage them to ask questions about your topic.  Their questions may help you identify any weaknesses in your argument. Their criticism can help you craft a better final product. 
• Take your paper to the DBU Writing Center.  It's best to call ahead for an appointment.  The consultants in the Writing Center won't "fix" your paper, but they can point out common mistakes or faults in your logic that will help you produce the best paper possible. 

When you go through the proofreading process, you may discover that one or more of your points need further substantiation or support.  If that happens, here are two courses of action that can help:

1. Go back through the books, articles, and websites you used for your original research.  Is there something else in these resources that you could use to strengthen your arguments?
2. Conduct some additional research.  Perhaps there are databases you haven't tried yet, or a book that was originally unavailable.  Don't be afraid to add to your research, if necessary.  If you need suggestions for finding further resources, ask your friendly DBU librarians!

For assistance, call 214-333-5221 or email us at lib_ref@dbu.edu.