How to PROOFREAD essays?!

Getting down to the nitty-gritty..!

You should ideally finish your essay a few days before the deadline so that you may take a break from it. This allows you to ‘forget’ what you wrote and proofread with new eyes. After looking at the same piece of literature for so long, your brain fills in the gaps as you read, causing you to miss errors.

Pickles by Brian Crane (2010–11–27), image #54470

Editing in rounds is the key to successful proofreading.

In each round, focus on a different issue and try to fix it. This requires a little more time to edit, which is why you should complete writing early. Check the corresponding in every round.

ROUND 1 — CONTENT:

• Argument: Is your argument logical? Is it sturdy? Is it reasonable
• Evidence: Is the study you’ve done sound? Are all of your claims supported by appropriate evidence? Is every piece of evidence required and relevant to your point of view?
• Elaboration: Do you have a well-developed argument? Is each and every piece of evidence explained, analyzed, or criticized? Is the research you offer referenced and used to back up your claims?

ROUND 2 — FLOW:

• Map: Have you supplied a clear and succinct outline of your essay
• Paragraph linking: Are your paragraphs linked? Do the last phrases of each paragraph flow into the following one? Have you demonstrated how your points are linked?
• Coherence: Does your argument make sense? Is the arrangement of your points clear? Is it possible for the reader to see the evolution of your argument?
• TIP: Combine all of your body paragraph topic sentences into a single paragraph. Do they make sense when combined?

ROUND 3 — LANGUAGE:

• Vocabulary: Have you overused words or phrases? Is your paraphrase correct?
• Sentence length: do your sentences run on too long? Can they be separated?
• Cohesion: how well does your text flow? Is it stuttering or clunky? Is anything you’ve written understandable?
• Punctuation: Are you sure your quote marks are correct? Have you correctly used em dashes, colons, and semicolons?
• Minor flaws: Is your grammar and spelling correct?

ROUND 4— FORMAT:

• Referencing: Do your in-text citations/footnotes match? Is every piece of proof cited?
• Font size/style: Did you use the right font size/style? Is the space between your lines correct? Are your paragraphs justified/indented, as they should be?
• Page design: Are your margins correctly set up? Are your headers, footers, and page numbers right, if necessary?
• References: Is the information in your bibliography correct? Are they listed alphabetically? Is the indentation and line spacing correct?\

Some other tips:

• Replace the font with something like Comic Sans. This forces your brain to work harder to read and prevents it from skipping words.
• Make a copy of your essay (when the essay is comparatively small or else it look hectic) and go over it with a red pen. Mark as if you were a teacher, highlighting as many errors as you can.
• Read it out loud or use a text-to-speech program. Listening to your work might help you spot uncomfortable writing and repeated words.

Thanks for reading!

Happy writing!!

→ YazNa sAI