Psychoanalytic Analysis: Finalizing
At this point, if you are comfortable with the content of your essay, all that is left is finalizing the details. This is the step where you can catch the silly grammatical mistakes that cost you points; it is also where you can throw in a strong concluding sentence. It is not too late to go back and expand on areas that you think are important, or cut out some parts that you think may distract the reader from your main point. If you feel that your essay contains the seven qualities of a good literary analysis then move on to finalizing the smaller details. When finalizing, be mindful of the errors you have made in previous papers so you do not make them again.
|
"In the end, I had nine separate drafts of my essay. N-I-N-E. Nine. But, I finally reached the end. Keep in mind, I am an English major, and I still had to continuously edit and rewrite and rebrand and cut and polish. This is the reality of writing. You will never be a flawless, perfect writer; no author or essayist has ever been perfect. You just have to remember that with every change, your argument is gaining strength. Your voice is making an academic difference with every additional quotation or elaboration. In the end, you feel accomplished because you have produced your best possible work.
If I were to write another psychoanalytic criticism, I would do one thing: commit. Out of my nine drafts, seven of them were torn apart because of my inability to actually commit to my argument. I didn't want to explicitly pair Mrs. Mallard and BPD, so I used soft, flimsy words to avoid the claim." -Delaney |
Finalizing has multiple benefits. It gives you a chance to seek helpful feedback from proof-readers. It allows fine-tuning and checking to see that introductory phrases are not used more than once. The biggest advantage to finalizing, however, is simple: reading over the work one last time to make sure you are satisfied with it.