How Proofreading Can Drastically Improve Paper Writing

Writing essays and term papers while you are at college can be stressful and overwhelming, and the writing process doesn’t end after you have finished your final draft. Whether you are writing an ordinary college essay, a tricky research paper, or a complex dissertation, getting the text of your paper free of spelling and grammar mistakes is essential.

Proofreading is the culmination of the writing process, but many students would rather skip this critical step. Remember: your papers can’t be considered complete until you proofread them because human errors are inevitable.

Importance of Proofreading

It’s common knowledge that a lot of students struggle with their writing and are too busy to cope with all assignments on time, so they often buy custom papers at online services that offer affordable papers of different types. But when you write your assignments on your own, proofreading your essay before you submit it can mean a great difference between an unaccepted paper and a piece of writing that will get an excellent grade.

Proofreading is done after you have edited your paper and are satisfied with its content and logic flow. It provides the final polish to your essay and ensures the clarity of your message. Spellcheckers offered by word processors can’t catch words used in the wrong context, for example, they’re, their, and there. But you can do it if you review your paper word by word.

You can also catch and fix grammar errors and misplaced punctuation marks that may often change the entire meaning of a sentence. It’s important to address all mistakes, big and small because your teacher can give you a lower grade if they see that your paper wasn’t properly proofread. At the end of the proofreading process, you should also verify all sources and check your citations and footnotes to ensure that your paper adheres to the rules of the specific style guide, for example, APA, MLA, Chicago or another style.

The most important benefit of proofreading is not just that you’ll get a more polished paper but that you will learn how to make it better. In this way, you’ll improve your overall writing skills.

Wondering how you can proofread your essays to ensure that they are well-written, precise, and easy to read? Follow these useful tips, which can make your proofreading process more effective.

Proofreading Tips

Although proofreading is a meticulous and time-consuming process, there are several proven strategies that can serve you well when you proofread your academic papers. Have a look at some of them.

• Don’t start proofreading as soon as you finish your paper. Put your essay aside for some time, and look at your project with fresh eyes. Then you’ll easier see more mistakes.
• Another good way to look at your essay from a new perspective and spot more mistakes and typos is to read it backward starting from the conclusion.
• Don’t proofread your paper on a computer screen. Instead, print it and work with a printed version.
• Read your paper aloud to catch errors by ears if you have missed them by reading the content silently.
• Proofread line by line and use separate pieces of paper to cover pieces of text you haven’t read yet. This technique can help you stay focused on every separate word. You won’t skip ahead of possible mistake.
• Ask your friend or family member to proofread your essay for you. They will notice mistakes that you have failed to miss. Besides, your friends can give you some valuable advice on paper structure and evaluate whether words in your essay make sense or not.
• Ask someone who is an expert in a specific citation style to review your essay and evaluate whether the paper meets the requirements of such a style.
• Your teacher might have already identified specific weaknesses in your writings. Review your essay from that perspective and address those issues.
• Don’t neglect your punctuation and check for extra or missing commas, incorrectly used periods, and pay special attention to capitalized words.
• Use good dictionaries as references for checking spelling and word usage. Spelling and grammar checkers don’t highlight all the mistakes, but they can help you save some time.

We hope these simple tips will ease the process of writing and editing as well.