We know many students who put in their best efforts to research and write their essays. However, a little negligence towards editing and proofreading takes their grades down. Hence, this is one mistake you don’t want to commit. Proofreading is a skill in itself. You have to practice it to master it.
Unless you buy essay from a professional paper writing service, a piece you are working on isn’t complete without effective proofreading. If you get this part right, you are on your way to taking your essay up a notch. Therefore, it is necessary to know how to proofread so that your final work looks refined and impressive.
One of our expert essay writers has some effective tips for you to help you power up your proofreading in no time. Read on!
Always Take a Break
Proofreading and editing right after finishing writing is never a wise decision unless you have no time at all. It is crucial to take a break to give your brain some rest from all the brainstorming.
When you have just finished writing your essay, you are less likely to find any mistakes in it. However, when you come back to it after a pause, you review it from a fresh perspective. This new outlook allows you to notice more mistakes and observe flow issues if there are any.
Change Fonts or Print It Out
Sometimes changing the viewing angle is all you need to shift your perspective. Reviewing your draft in the same font and format might not help you find errors. Hence, many essay writers deem it fit to change the font of the entire document. This gives your write-up a fresh look and helps you zoom in on mistakes more easily.
You can also print your document out and proofread it. Make sure that you highlight all the flaws and change them in your online work.
Read Aloud
Reading out loud is one of the most popular proofreading tricks among the best essay writers. When you skim through a piece of writing, you tend to read rapidly and are more likely to miss errors. However, when you speak the words out slowly, your focus automatically shifts to each word and phrase.
Note that it is important to read your text loud enough to hear your own words. You can also read it to someone else so you will have more ears paying attention to mistakes.
Look for the Common Mistakes First
You must know yourself well. Every essay writer knows the common mistakes they make. For example, you may always confuse ‘you’re’ with ‘your’ or often miss adding an ‘s’ to singular verbs. The key is to know what mistakes you are most likely to make and check your content for them. This will eliminate the basic flaws in a go and will spare you time to review other aspects.
Double Check the Stats and References
Students often get so focused on spelling and grammar issues that they ignore other important elements of the essay that need to be cross-checked. Stats and references are two of those crucial things you shouldn’t mess up. Always review and ensure that you have mentioned sources properly and haven’t missed any. The numbers and facts should also be correct.
Look Out for Punctuation and Syntax Errors
In addition to basic grammatical slip-ups, it is crucial to ensure that your punctuation is in check. Also, there shouldn’t be any syntax errors in your write-up since they bring the quality of your essay down. Read each sentence carefully and see where you are missing or misapplying punctuation. Look for sentences that sound awkward. It could be a syntax error hidden in plain sight.
Run a Spell-Check
Even though you can’t completely rely on tools, they still ease your work a lot. Many word processing tools, such as Google Docs and MS Word, offer spell-check features that you can use. Mostly this integration underlines misspelled words as soon as you type them, which is an amazing feature for essay writers. You can also run a spell-check on your whole document to spot errors and correct them.
Use a Proofreading Tool
Similarly, an AI-powered proofreading tool will help you spot flaws that you might have missed. You can either run your write-up through such a tool before manual proofreading or use the tool as the last step in your process.
Using it at the beginning will save you time from correcting silly and easy mistakes, and you can use this time to dive deeper and pay attention to more non-apparent issues. Some essay writers also like to use it after proofreading to identify flaws they may have missed.
Ask Someone Else to Review Your Work
This piece of advice is for every newbie essay writer. If you don’t feel confident proofreading your paper, you may ask someone else to review it for you. What you write may seem correct to you. However, if you ask a friend or a family member to proofread it for you, they can point out the mistakes in it.
Use a Plagiarism Checker
This is a non-negotiable step, very crucial for you to save yourself from being labeled as a cheater. Even if you haven’t copied any phrase, sentence, or part of others’ work, you must check your essay for plagiarism. You can choose any of the AI-based tools available on the web. If it detects anything, rework that part before submission.
Conclusion
Proofreading is the final step that polishes your essay and makes it submission-worthy. Not only does it improve the quality, but it also shows your efforts. Try the above tips and proofread like a pro!
