8.1 Why polish?

Outline

8 Polishing

Once you have reached this stage, you have nearly finished.

What does polishing mean, and what does it involve? Imagine polishing a car or a piece of furniture. Why might you do so? Usually, to make it look better, to present it in the best possible light, either for your own pleasure, or to impress others – perhaps because you want to sell it. If it is an object that you value, it is worth making it look its very best: it deserves it. How effective your polishing is usually depends on the time and energy you devote to the task.

Activity 21

How would you interpret the analogy to polishing cars and furniture in the opening paragraph of this section?

Now read the discussion

Achieving a good polish

Here is a list of indicators you can use to judge your polishing techniques. Most guidance notes given to students include these points, but they are not always followed.

Positive indicators	Negative indicators
It is word-processed or clearly and neatly hand-written.	The assignment is written on paper that has been torn out of an exercise book.
It is double-spaced.	It is illegible.
There are wide margins on either side of the script to allow for tutor comments.	The writing (or word processing) fills the whole page, with no margins and no spaces between lines or paragraphs.
The title appears at the top of the first page.	There is no title.
There are few, if any, spelling mistakes.	There are no separate sections or paragraphs.
Paragraphs are neither too long nor too short.	There are too many short sections or paragraphs.
There is space between paragraphs.	There are no references and/or bibliography.
Quotations are acknowledged accurately and in sufficient detail.
There is a bibliography at the end of the assignment, to indicate which sources you have used.
The pages are numbered.
You have put your name and personal identifier on each page.