上がる / 上げる【あがる / あげる】

あがる上がる and あげる上げる go on the ます-stem of another verb and say the action has been carried through to a finished result: 書く becomes かきあげる書き上げる, 焼く becomes やきあがる焼き上がる. The compound conjugates like an ordinary 上がる or 上げる.

上がる or 上げる

The two are an intransitive/transitive pair. With 上がる the thing that gets finished is the subject and takes が; nobody is mentioned doing it. With 上げる someone finishes it, and the thing takes を.

• × 論文が書き上げた → 論文を書き上げた / 論文が書き上がった

Not every verb takes both. やきあがる焼き上がる and やきあげる焼き上げる, しあがる仕上がる and しあげる仕上げる are both in use; できあがる出来上がる has no 上げる partner, and かきあげる書き上げる is far more common than 書き上がる.

書き上げた or 書いた

かいた書いた only says the writing happened. かきあげた書き上げた says a whole piece of work now exists, usually after sustained effort, so the compound suits a novel or a report rather than a text message.

The same endings also mean "up" when the first verb is a physical movement: たちあがる立ち上がる is to stand up, もちあげる持ち上げる to lift up.