Noble F. answered • 03/19/19
English PhD and College-Level Instructor Specializing in Writing
While proofreading requires us only to check the document for grammatical and sentence-level error, the editing process often involves a much more substantial engagement with what writing instructors call the "global" elements of your dissertation—that is, the elements (like organization, tone, argument structure, guiding presence of a strong thesis or claim, etc.) that impact the entire document or dissertation chapter.
Editing a dissertation can be tricky, because dissertations represent one overarching argument, while also being constituted by chapters that each promote supporting claims. (Depending on your discipline, a chapter might, for the most part, be capable of standing—and sometimes of being published—alone, outside the total context of the dissertation.) That means that, during the editing stage, you must consider your document on two levels: first as one total document, and second as a series of independent but closely related chapters.
In considering the totality of the dissertation, some questions to consider:
- Does my dissertation include an engaging introduction that articulates an overarching argument, provides a comprehensive literature review that outlines both the history and the current discourse surround the argument, and sketches both the central claims that support the argument and the methods used for arriving at those claims?
- Does the dissertation follow the conventions of the discipline in terms of structure and organization? As you know, disciplines vary here, with the structure being very strict in the natural sciences, somewhat strict in the social sciences, and much more flexible in the humanities.
- Are my claims, throughout the dissertation, consistently supported by evidence, either from secondary or primary research?
- Do you thoroughly engage with recent research in your field, clearly situating your argument within a disciplinary conversation, identifying a shortcoming in existing research, and explaining how your research will fill that gap?
In considering each individual chapter, some additional questions:
- Is each chapter guided by a central claim or claims, each of which is clearly articulated in an introductory section?
- Are your central claims for that chapter clearly related to, and supportive of, the overarching argument in your dissertation?
- Is each of your central claims thoroughly explained and supported by either primary or secondary evidence?
- Does each paragraph begin with a topic sentence, followed by evidence in support of that claim?
I have found that the best way to approach these questions is by doing an exercise that my students call "reverse outlining." Print a hard copy of your dissertation draft, and annotate the draft in the margins. Make a note of the central claim in each paragraph, then record those claims in order on a separate page. This is an outline of your draft—does the structure of the argument make sense? do you make claims in support of arguments, and offer evidence in support of your claims? are there any claims or arguments that should be further unpacked for your audience? etc.
Once you have revised your outline, you can make those same changes to your document by reordering paragraphs, adding or eliminating sentences, inserting transitions, and so forth.
When you have completed this content editing process, you can then address sentence level and grammatical concerns by proofreading the document—or hiring a proofreader to help!
My students, both undergraduate and graduate, have had incredible success with this method. I hope it helps.
