3 quick tips to polish your final draft for submission

This was originally posted November, 2018:

Getting your paper completed and submitted is a great feeling. Getting it back with a lot of negative comments about your writing, style, and grammar, not so much.  Here are three things you can do which will have a HUGE impact on the quality of your final submission.

  1. Always try to have your paper completed a day early and leave it sit for at least a few hours before going back to re-read and tweak before you submit.  I can guarantee this one fact alone will pay off huge dividends in the quality of your writing.
  2. Proofread your paper by reading it out loud. I know it sounds crazy but this is a secret that all the best writers employ. By reading your paper out loud your ears will catch problems in syntax and grammar that your eyes don’t. In fact, I’m willing to say that you will be surprised at some of the mistakes you will find.
  3. Keep the APA Quick guide near you when you write. Planning to come back and check things for APA later may sound like a good idea, but you and I both know that life gets busy, and good intentions won’t save you when the paper is being graded.  You can find the APA quickguide at this LINK.  It isn’t long, either save it to your phone for ready access, or print it off and keep it close when you write.

There you go, three tips that will improve your final product.

Dr. Upchurch

APA Guidelines Review for Belhaven Adult Studies

As you prepare your assignments/papers, there are some general formatting rules for the APA format that you MUST be familiar with to be successful in your writing.

Basic Rules for the APA format are:

  • 8 ½ x 11 paper size
  • Double-spaced
  • 1 inch margin on all sides
  • 12 pt. Times New Roman font
  • Page numbers (beginning with title page)
  • Page header
  • Difference between Bible and biblical
  • Worldview being one word
  • Proper in-text citation examples
  • Proper reference examples

Belhaven APA Resources and Academic Help are available through Canvas and Blazenet. You can see in the image below how to access the Belhaven APA Quickguide which is the official authority on APA for your submissions at Belhaven. I highly recommend you print this out and keep a copy close by when you are writing your papers.    Here is a LINK to the QUICK GUIDE

 

Grammarly

I LOVE Grammarly.  I installed it on my computer some time ago and I wouldn’t want to try to write without it!  It automatically highlights problems in my writing and gives me suggestions to correct them.  There are so many things that Grammarly does I’ve included a link to an article which reviews them HERE. I cannot overstate the importance of getting hooked up with Grammarly as soon as possible – ESPECIALLY SINCE IT IS FREE TO YOU AS A BELHAVEN STUDENT!!!!!

Here is how to get connected. Go to Blazenet, Click on the hamburger menu, then Academics, then Adult and Graduate. From the next screen scroll down and click on APA Assistance under Quick Links. The link for Grammarly will be on the right – just follow the directions.  This could be a game changer!

3 quick tips to polish your final draft for submission

Getting your paper completed and submitted is a great feeling. Getting it back with a lot of negative comments about your writing, style, and grammar, not so much.  Here are three things you can do which will have a HUGE impact on the quality of your final submission.

  1. Always try to have your paper completed a day early and leave it sit for at least a few hours before going back to re-read and tweak before you submit.  I can guarantee this one fact alone will pay off huge dividends in the quality of your writing.
  2. Proofread your paper by reading it out loud. I know it sounds crazy but this is a secret that all the best writers employ. By reading your paper out loud your ears will catch problems in syntax and grammar that your eyes don’t. In fact, I’m willing to say that you will be surprised at some of the mistakes you will find.
  3. Keep the APA Quick guide near you when you write. Planning to come back and check things for APA later may sound like a good idea, but you and I both know that life gets busy, and good intentions won’t save you when the paper is being graded.  You can find the APA quickguide at this LINK.  It isn’t long, either save it to your phone for ready access, or print it off and keep it close when you write.

There you go, three tips that will improve your final product.

Dr. Upchurch