I finished proof reading and editing my second draft today and I am very happy with it and I will now evaluate it including whether or not I have achieved what I said I should set out to do when I evaluated my last draft:
What Went Well i.e. what I have improved upon
Overall I am a lot happier with this draft, I think by really working on the content and the argument - cutting it down so only the relevant bits remain - it has really improved. Initially I wanted a dissertation with basically everything I found out about Alexander but for it to be clear, concise and all of it relating to my title would be highly unfeasible so I am glad that I have learnt that sometimes cutting down is better than putting everything in.
My next step is to leave it a bit so I become unfamiliar and more likely to pick up obvious mistakes and I also need to start working on my presentation which is due to be given on the 3rd of December.
What Went Well i.e. what I have improved upon
- I am happy with all of my topic sentences and links back to the question - I think my argument is a lot more focused and related to my dissertation title than my previous draft
- All the examples are relevant - I took out the ones which were just there for show and didn't really contribute anything e.g. the marriages at Susa for raising his men's morale as it wasn't really relevant to the paragraph
- Spelling and grammar seems good
- Variety of sources demonstrating that it is well researched
- The length is just over 5000 words so it is a lot more manageable and closer to my target
- What is being discussed in each paragraph is very clear
- It is a lot less narrative, I have ensured that every example has an explanation linking it to the argument
- I have stopped writing BCE after every date and plan to put that in the abstract - makes it look more professional as that is what academics do
- A significant change I made is implementing the generalship paragraph with the character one as they were both about Alexander magnanimous and megalomaniac aspects of his character - this condenses my argument effectively and really helps with the overall cohesion with my dissertation
- I changed my method of referencing - I learnt to Harvard reference with word which is something I have never done before and is very useful as it automatically creates a bibliography at the end
Overall I am a lot happier with this draft, I think by really working on the content and the argument - cutting it down so only the relevant bits remain - it has really improved. Initially I wanted a dissertation with basically everything I found out about Alexander but for it to be clear, concise and all of it relating to my title would be highly unfeasible so I am glad that I have learnt that sometimes cutting down is better than putting everything in.
My next step is to leave it a bit so I become unfamiliar and more likely to pick up obvious mistakes and I also need to start working on my presentation which is due to be given on the 3rd of December.