Understanding Research (42 page)

Good writing guides abound so this section highlights recurring points for anyone at these final stages. Even if you are not an Ernest Hemingway (known for his brevity) or Virginia Woolf (known for the effortlessness of her flow-of-consciousness style), there are ways to lift the text up a level. Academic writing is seldom achieved as a steady stream. Whilst there are times when the work and accompanying writing ‘flows’, and the ideas and grasp of all those data are clear, there are many others when this is not the case. However good you may be as a writer (remember, not everyone is a natural born author) in academic or creative terms, 99 per cent of the time you will need to revise and edit the larger document at least once before handing it in. Not leaving enough time for this final once-over has tripped up many; and will continue to do so because we all overestimate the cogency of that first draft, underestimate the value fresh eyes can provide. This also applies to those submitting this major piece of writing in a foreign language. In fact in the latter case the time you allocate to revising and editing your text should be longer; more on this below.

Below are ten pointers (mini ‘commandments’) in this respect based on my own and others’ experiences. These aim to provide guidance on how to avoid tripping up during the writing-up and revising phases. If you do trip up and it is too late to do much about it, these help you to cope, deal with what you can and still make the deadline:

1. It is a truism but nonetheless, one more time: leave enough time to let the text ‘percolate’. Your ability to spot mistakes, redundant repetitions, ‘tortured syntax’ and other factual oversights and errors (for example, with graphics, notes, and references) will increase with time. Like sending an email too quickly and regretting it the next day, the same applies here.
   
2. Even if this is but a day or two (preferably a week depending on the size of the project; I’d suggest even longer for Ph.D.s and book-size writing) make sure that you go away and do something completely different. Give your brain a rest;
   intense bouts of writing are usually accompanied by equally intense bouts of rerunning and fretting over the text in our heads. Do something physical, embark on a completely different project, go away for a day or two, to the movies, read some pulp fiction – or classics if you prefer. As long as this is something quite different. Then come back to the text with the red pen/highlighter and be your own toughest editor.
   
3. Everyone needs to check their spelling and grammar
   – everyone! With the software-aided spell-checks (for all their limits) available on all desktop word-processing packages this is easier than ever. Proper nouns (author names, concepts, places) will need a manual check. Assuming you have set up your spell-check to work along the language/dialect you are working with, this basic task is a must.
   
4. Likewise for
   grammar checks
   . That said, as grammar and syntax are closely allied to (conflicting) notions of style, good and bad writing, these tools also need to be treated with due care. However, if you are not writing in your first language, applying the basic grammar check can help a lot; you learn something and many of the more jarring issues can be dealt with. If you are able to engage someone to edit your work to render it more idiomatic in the submission language this can work. However, remember that you are the author of this text, legally, so this is not to suggest you engage a ghost-writer; this is something quite different from a good and engaged editor.
   
5. For all writers, having someone else read all (if you can find someone other than a supervisor) or part of the text can help; copy-editing is a particular skill but an alert reader with no stake in the material (unlike the writer) can locate errors or confused expression. If you do not agree with their verdict, that is your call. But for important sections, enrolling other readers is useful: ready-made fresh eyes and head for a start.
   
6. Look at balance; within a chapter or section and between them. Extremely long chapters or sections against very short ones might require consideration, reorganizing or cutting.
   
7. On that note,
   cuts and deletions will – and must – happen
   . Most of the time anyway. If not of obvious repetition or sentences or sections (sometimes leftovers from incomplete cut-and-paste actions on the text) then perhaps of whole chapters. For Ph.D. projects entering the final drafting stage, sometimes this decision to cut (rather than continue to write) can be a crucial moment, liberating in fact. In short, be prepared and expect to have to let go; leave something out. The final copy is usually better for it.
   
8. The same goes for reorganization. Changing the order of things alters the flow, clarifies and tightens up an argument, enhances the narrative line or provides a way to reconsider the data you have been writing with. This too can be hard, though, so once again a fresh pair of eyes (yours or another’s) and percolating time help here enormously.
   
9. Expect the revision and editing phase to be emotionally charged. Even researchers with journalistic experience (who have desk editors intervening in the final version) find these decisions tough in an academic project. One clear way to figure this out when contemplating whether to cut a major section is to think ‘if in doubt, leave it out’. When this is a large piece of the work, file it away in case.
   
10. Word-length restrictions do matter
    ; make them work for you. If you have too much text, even if you are convinced it is all indispensable, you will have to, and you can cut it back. Again, leave time for this.
    

A final comment warrants separate treatment,
an ‘eleventh’ commandment
. That is to consider how the much-heard advice to ‘know your audience’ applies to you; in terms of recognizing the limits to what you can achieve in literary, or even scholarly terms in the time and comparative level of experience you have. Why?

• For research students completing their first major piece of academic research and then writing (quite distinct from term papers as many a student has lamented to me), uncertainty about who they are addressing is often overlooked.
  
• This audience need not be a person (though you could consider having supervisor and/or classmates before you in your mind’s eye if that facilitates things. It may not though). It could be a group, for example, authors you have read that inspire you or a particular community of ideas within your literature.
  
• Treat this audience as intelligent and (reasonably) interested in engaging with your findings. That said, you also need to be kind to this audience in that by now you have acquired expertise and knowledge of your own; impart that knowledge without assuming equal knowledge yet without being condescending: a tricky balancing act but bear this in mind.
  
• One thing is for sure, the final version is not intended for that audience-of-one that is you. Turning your writing outwards, to address those outside your inner-mind’s eye is often where the work done with revisions and editing pay off.
  
• Idioms: Whilst we cannot please all audiences all of the time, we do need to consider who else will be reading the piece. If the context and disciplinary mode you are working in requires certain things, then conforming to these, following convention, may well be advisable for successfully completing the project. If these conventions are counter-intuitive or counter-experiential (for example, some creatively trained writers can find it difficult if not trying to apply section headings or cite the literature consistently), that is tough. If you have time, then why not write up the research as you would like to and then consider creating another version – for academic consumption?
  

Some points about the final cut, particularly as hand-in deadlines for research dissertations in many institutions are very strict. Again, the most important rule is to allocate enough time (after the above revisions and edits are completed) to ensure the following can take place without undue stress:

1. Printing-out time: never leave this to the last minute
   . Something always goes awry – printers break down, toner cartridges empty, printer-shops or services run late or do something wrong. Printing out at home or with a commercial service, always check that all pages are in place; take your time here as haste generates mistakes. Check that:
   
   • (a)  You are sure about printing formats; for example, single-sided is usually compulsory or expected.
     
   • (b)  Pages are all there and in sequence; be sure you have pages numbered (many students omit this). If not, do so by hand.
     
   • (c)  The document is appropriately bound (mandatory usually but students still hand in/try to hand in loose-leaf piles of paper); staples may not be enough for longer documents. How expensive a binding you need is up to you and the degree level.
     
   • (d)  All other presentation formalities are observed (consult your institutional guidelines): word-spacing, cover page with title, your name/student number and requisite contact information, literature list, appendices, and so on. Don’t guess, go check.
     
   • (e)  You are clear about (how many) hardcopies and/or digital formats are required, and the means and locale for handing in.
     
2. An additional suggestion, if you have enough time and resources, is to create a first full draft as if it were the final cut; then leave it aside for a while and go back over it for one final check. This is not for everyone but it can help locate any remaining oversights.
   
3. That said, assuming you have given enough attention to revising and editing the substantive document, do make a point of letting go; there will always be sections you wish were better, could be better written; ideas and conclusions that could be, and will be more clearly expressed. But as the deadline has come, the time has come to really let go.
   

In short, treat the final version and presentation of your work with consideration. Whilst some students may have the added benefit of graphic design/desktop publishing experience, a clean print-out with decent binding, a cover page and back page creates a good first impression on reader-examiners. It is worth going an extra few metres to achieve this within reason and resources (no coffee stains if you can help it for instance).