Letting Go

In my own experience, the most critical part of writing a good paper is revision. Once I finish a draft of something, I find it helpful to at least sleep on it. Taking a second look at your work requires as refreshed an eye as possible and as a first move, I like to read it out loud, but softly to myself.

Next, I take my pen to the paper (if I don't have a hard copy, I'm a big fan of the highlighting function in Microsoft Word). The most important facet of this process is actually the most crucial I think, to the entire writing process. It is important to streamline a paper, but it is critical to keep your overall goal in mind. So, I find that I benefit more from searching for the best paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and reworking the paper around those.

Sometimes the best pieces of my work are just well written, sometimes they really drive home a good point, and I like to leave the option open that maybe, I could rewrite my thesis based on the direction of one good passage. It's also possible that a favorite piece could make my goal clearer. Whatever I find when I'm revising, I always try to keep my options open and be prepared to take more time and let go of my first draft.