{"id":45801,"date":"2018-10-29T14:24:19","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T21:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45801"},"modified":"2018-10-29T14:24:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T21:24:19","slug":"revising-with-a-reader-in-mind-ten-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/revising-with-a-reader-in-mind-ten-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Revising with a reader in mind \u2013 ten questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAcademics write for different kinds of readers. We are often accused of writing only for each other, but this is no longer true. Many of us now write for many different kinds of readers \u2013 or audiences, as they are sometimes called.<\/p>\n

But you know, even when we do write for each other,\u00a0we<\/em>\u00a0are not all the same. Different academic readers have different expectations, experiences, interests and disciplinary traditions. And while all academic readers will be looking to see that your writing is well evidenced and argued, they may also approach your writing differently. An examiner, a reviewer of a niche journal, a more general interdisciplinary audience interested in the book of your thesis, or readers of an academic blog may each be looking for slightly different things from your writing.<\/p>\n

So, when revising your first draft, one of the key thing to consider is \u2013 your reader.<\/p>\n

You probably wrote the first draft largely for yourself. You had to get the ideas out onto the page and in roughly the right order. You made decisions about structure and perhaps style. \u00a0You put in the kinds of examples and supporting literatures that were to hand and which seemed most relevant at the time.<\/p>\n

But now, now it\u2019s revision time \u2013 time to re-read your first draft thinking about your reader.<\/p>\n

Imagine that reader. Are they your supervisor? An examiner? A journal reviewer? A book publisher you hope will sign you on? Before you even start re-reading your work, it might be good to make a list of the things you think your particular reader will expect to see. Use this list as a \u2018critical lens\u2019 for re- reading your work.<\/p>\n

Now, you don\u2019t have to make up your re-reading list entirely on your own. I can offer a bit of help about some of the kinds of things you need to look at. Here\u2019s a start \u2013 some general pointers that most academic readers look for in more formal texts \u2013 theses, papers, scholarly books and chapters.<\/p>\n

These pointers are of two kinds. Two because there are two things that academic readers generally notice \u2013 what the writing is about, and how the text is written. So it\u2019s important that when you read-like-your-reader you look for both of these things.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my list of ten points to check out for your reader.<\/p>\n

Reading for your reader \u2013 the substantive content<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) Purpose<\/em><\/p>\n