The difference between a paper that is simply adequate and one that is good, often rests with careful editing. Learn from your past papers and the feedback instructors have given.
Below are listed some of the editing marks that I use on student papers. Many of these are conventional among editors and proofreaders, but a few are idiosyncratic to me, especially where they refer to requirements of the APA Publication Manual. Copyright editors tell exactly what to change, but some of my comments simply direct students to fix a problem, leaving the specific change to them (e.g., "punc" or "ww" below).
Editing Mark
|
Meaning
|
| awk |
awkward wording (and, sometimes, ungrammatical) |
| sp |
mis-spelled word |
| [squiggle line around 2 letters or words] |
reverse letters (or words) |
unclear
or ? |
your meaning isn't clear to me; try rephrasing |
| frag |
sentence fragment. (Every sentence must have a noun and a verb. In formal writing, avoid the incomplete sentences that may be acceptable in casual conversation.) |
| ww |
wrong word
(probably the word you have chosen does not mean what you think it means) |
| agree # |
the words you have listed do not agree in number; make both (or all) singular, or make both (or all) plural |
| || str |
parallel structure; the items should have the same grammatical structure, but they don't |
| apos |
needs an apostrophe
or the placement of the apostrophe is wrong |
| no apos |
should not have an apostrophe
(e.g., replace "it's" with "its") |
| punc |
something is wrong with the punctuation; perhaps you need to add a punctuation mark; perhaps you have used the wrong punctuation mark |
| -- |
use a dash
[often, this means a hyphen was erroneously used where it should be a dash] |
| ref? |
What is your reference for this statement?
[Often, this means that you seem to be citing facts or other material that should be backed up by a reference.] |
| quote? |
Are you quoting or paraphrasing here?
[Any quotation must be put in quotation marks and the reference and page number must be clearly indicated.] |
| title? |
Don't forget to give your paper an appropriate, descriptive title. |
| ital |
italicize |
| Rom |
use Roman font (that is, do not italicize) |
| bf |
use bold face type
(I seldom make this indication on student papers, but if the paper uses bold face type in some locations, I may make this mark for the sake of consistency) |
no bf
or not bf |
do not use bold face type |
| l. c. |
Use lower case letters (instead of capital letters). |
cap
or triple underline |
Use capital letters (instead of lower case). |
| page # |
add page numbers (e.g., add page numbers in reference to quotations; or add page numbers in reference list) |
| issue |
add the issue number to the journal reference citation (in cases of noncontinuous pagination only) |
| no issue |
delete the issue number from a journal reference citation (in cases of continuous pagination) |
| space |
add space |
| no space |
delete space |
| close space |
close excessive space (e.g., there should not be additional vertical space between references in a reference list, or between paragraphs in the text; simply double space throughout) |
| D. S. |
double space (no more, no less) |
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