BEFORE SUBMISSION: PROOFREADING AND REVISING

It is a common misperception that once you have written your first draft, you are done. Good writers do not submit their first draft. Indeed, a good part of the work on your manuscript starts only once the first draft has been written. Don't get into the bad habit of thinking that the draft is the final version. Advisers, editors, reviewers, and others are likely to make you do at least one and probably more revisions before your paper ever sees the light of day.

Here are some general tips for successful proofreading and revising:

1. ■ Get some distance.

2. ■ Rethink.

3. ■ Don't fix what you think is good.

4. ■ Revisit the checklists in this book and use them for proofreading.

5. ■ Make structural changes first.

6. ■ Check for typos and orthographic errors.

7. ■ Write for your likely referees and readers.

8. ■ Try to think of your work in terms of explaining it to a layperson.

9. ■ Check for fit to journal guidelines and subject matter.

10. ■ Read your paper at least once while imagining yourself to be a critical reviewer, or even better, ask a colleague to do the same.

11. ■ Cite likely referees (who conceivably merit citation).

12. ■ Make sure the references cited are up to date.

13. ■ Make sure all cited works are in your references.

■ Get some distance.

When you have worked on your paper for a long time, you become so involved in it that it is hardly possible to see it in an objective way. You don't read sentences carefully anymore because you have read them so many times that you feel like you know already what comes next. You might even be bored when you read your paper for the tenth time. Just put it away for a while. Ideally, let it rest for a few days or weeks, or if you are in a rush, try not to look at it for at least a day or so. A fresh perspective will be very helpful in revising your paper by aiding you in finding incongruities and passages that are difficult to comprehend and in seeing other shortcomings that might have eluded you.