When you are revising, you deal with your text on the largest scale¹¹: in this stage, you perfect the structure and logic of your text and arguments.

To make sure your text works as a whole, start by reading your text from start to finish⁴. When you are revising you focus mainly on reorganizing, rewriting, adding, or cutting content^{4, 8}. First of all, check if all relevant sections are present in your text (see General structure of a scientific text: IMRAD for what needs to be included). Look critically at the structure (on a larger scale). Are your (sub)chapters ordered correctly to guide the reader through your arguments in a logical and clear way⁴? If not, you can reorder complete chapters or paragraphs if necessary.

Next, make sure all paragraphs/sections contribute to your main argument or question. Pay attention to repetitive, unclear or off-topic sections of your text⁴. Keep your main question/subject/purpose in mind when you are revising, make sure every section is focused. Do not hesitate to delete content that is not fitting to your text. Even if it might feel difficult to do this at first, it will improve your end result by making your text more focused⁸. Also check your word count (if applicable) and decide what parts you can delete/shorten or extend if necessary⁴.

On the paragraph level, you need to check if every paragraph covers only one subject. If a paragraph contains more than one subject, you need to split it up or remove the irrelevant section¹⁵. You also need to check if the first sentence of the paragraph always is the topic sentence. This will make it easier for the reader to follow your argument. If you would like to more on paragraph structure, you can take a look at Paragraph structure. 

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[collapse title = “Examples of questions to ask yourself when revising”]

• Do all parts of your text contribute to your research questions?⁸
• Is the information you give sufficient to understand your point? ⁸
• Is the central argument of your text clearly introduced, developed and concluded?⁴
• Does the content cover everything you mentioned in the introduction?
• Does the content cover everything that was asked for in the introduction?
• Does your introduction align with the body and conclusion of your text?
• Do you answer all questions you have stated in your introduction?

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