Proofreading essays is a critical component of any writing project and there are a number of ways to go about it.
Next day proofreading: The last thing you want to do is to proofread essay right after you write them. Give yourself a day's break from your essay so that you can come back to it with a fresh mind. You will be more critical and capable of finding mistakes.
Proofread on paper: While you may be inclined to proofread essays on the computer, you are better off printing them out because printed writing is easier on the eye.
Peer editing: Offer your essays to friends and family members who may not be familiar with your topic. They are more likely to ask questions and point out lack of clarity.
Expert proofreading: If you write your essays ahead of time, you have the opportunity of giving them to your professor to proofread. Experts like professors are familiar with the topic and have the most qualifying grammar skills. Professors can clarify any questions you may have, call attention to vague sentences in your essays, and even catch plagiarism before you officially hand the paper in.
Take advantage of English majors: English majors, writers and teachers love to proofread. Most of them have various pet peeves and know the most accurate ways of structuring sentences. Writers and English majors can provide help with grammar and all other technical aspects of your essays and possibly content advice as well.
Avoid distractions: One of the biggest mistakes you can make is proofreading essays in noisy and cluttered areas. Your focus should be on the essay so that you can be aware of mistakes. Because you have written the essay, and have probably read it more than once, you will practically have memorized certain parts. A noisy room will cause you to overlook familiar parts where mistakes can be hidden.
Read backwards: Although it may seem odd to do, reading essays backwards can help catch grammar mistakes as well as vague sentences. This requires that you read the last sentence first and continue in that order. Your focus will be on the sentence, you can find words that are spelled incorrectly, and each sentence will not be misguided by the one that comes before it. In other words, you can identify sentences that do not make sense on their own.
Grammar and spelling: Spellchecker on a computer program does not identify all spelling mistakes. Proofread essays for tense changes, fragments, participles, run-ons, and any other inconsistencies. Do not mix first person with third person. If you are summarizing in the past tense, do not jump to the first tense.
Look for common mistakes: Common mistakes include flowery language that is inspired by the use of the thesaurus which leaves you using words you do not know the meaning of. Another mistake in essays is redundancy and intensifiers.
Before delivering an essay to your reader or audience, you should make sure that it has been proofread and edited. There is nothing worse than writing essays full of mistakes and resulting embarrassment.
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