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Once you frame your report clearly, check its body. Readers will think your report is coherent when they see the following: what key terms run through all sections of the report where each section and subsection ends and the next begins how each section relates to the one before it what role each section plays in the whole what sentence in each section and subsection states its point what distinctive key terms run through each section To ensure that your readers will see those features, check for the following: 1. Do key terms run through your whole report? Circle key terms in the claim in your introduction and in your conclusion (review 7.3). Circle those same terms in the body of your report. Underline other words related to concepts named by those circled terms. If readers don't see your key terms in most paragraphs, they may think your report wanders. Revise by working those terms into parts that lack them. If you underlined many more words than you circled, be sure that readers will recognize how the underlined words relate to the concepts named in your circled key terms. If readers might miss the connections, change some of those related words to the key terms. If you really did stray from your line of reasoning, you have some serious revising to do. 2. Is the beginning of each section and subsection clearly signaled? You can use subheads to signal transitions from one major section to the next (review 6.2.4). In a long paper, you might add an extra space at the major joints. If you have a problem deciding what words to use in subheads or where to put them, your readers will have a bigger one, because they probably won't see your organization. (For styles of different levels of heads, see A.2.2 on p. 397.) 3. Does each major section begin with words that signal how that section relates to the one before it? Readers must not only recognize where sections begin and end, but understand why they are ordered as they are (see 6.2.5–6.2.6). Signal the logic of your order with words such as First, Second, More important, The next issue, Some have objected that, and so on. 4. Is it clear how each section is relevant to the whole? Of each section, ask What question does this section answer? If it doesn't help answer one of the five questions whose answers constitute an argument (see 5.2), think about its relevance: does it create a context, explain a background concept or issue, or help readers in some other way? If you can't explain how a section relates to your claim, consider cutting it. 5. Is the point of each section stated in a sentence at the end of a brief introduction to that section (or at its end)? If you have a choice, state the point of a section at the end of its introduction. Under no circumstances bury the point of a section in its middle. If a section is longer than four or five pages, you might restate the point at its end. 6. Do the specific terms that distinguish a section run through it? Just as the key terms that unify your whole report distinguish it from other reports, so should the key terms that distinguish each section and subsection run through and unify that section. Repeat step (1) for each section: find the sentence that expresses its point and identify the key terms that distinguish that section from the others. Then check whether those terms run through that section. If you find no key terms, then your readers might not see what distinct ideas that section contributes to the whole. 9.3 Check Your Paragraphs Each paragraph should be relevant to the point of its section. And like sections, each paragraph should have a sentence or two introducing it, usually stating its point and including the key concepts that the rest of the paragraph develops. If the opening sentences of a paragraph don't state its point, then its last one must. Order your sentences by some principle and make them relevant to the point of the paragraph (for principles of order, see 6.2.5). Avoid strings of short paragraphs (fewer than five lines) or very long ones (for most fields, more than half a page). Reserve the use of two- or three-sentence paragraphs for lists, transitions, introductions and conclusions to sections, and statements that you want to emphasize. (We use short paragraphs here so that readers can more easily skim, rarely a consideration in report writing.) 9.4 Let Your Draft Cool, Then Paraphrase It If you start your project early, you'll have time to let your revised draft cool. What seems good one day often looks different the next. When you return to your draft, don't read it straight through; skim its top-level parts: its introduction, the first paragraph of each major section, and conclusion. Then based on what you have read, paraphrase it for someone who hasn't read it. Does the paraphrase hang together? Does it fairly sum up your argument? Even better, ask someone else to skim your report by reading just its introduction and the introduction to major sections: how well that person summarizes your report will predict how well your readers will understand it. www.itpub.net Finally, always revise in light of a teacher's or advisor's advice. Not only will you annoy anyone who takes time to read a draft and make suggestions, only to see you ignore them, but you'll pass up an opportunity to improve your report. That doesn't mean you must follow every suggestion, but you should consider each one carefully.