SUGGESTIONS FOR PROOFREADING

When you are satisfied with your edited words and sentences, you are ready for the final step of the writing process — proofreading. By proofreading, you make sure your essay is error free and presented in acceptable manuscript format. Your goals are to catch and correct surface errors — such as errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics — as well as keyboarding or typographical errors. An essay that is free of surface errors gives readers a favorable impression of the essay and of you as its writer.

Spotting errors is easier when working with a clean, printed copy, so start with a fresh printout. Do not attempt to work with a previously marked-up copy or on a computer screen. Be sure to double-space the copy to allow room to mark corrections between lines.

Use the following suggestions to produce an error-free essay.

  1. Review your paper once for each type of error. Because it is difficult to spot all types of surface errors simultaneously, read your essay several times, each time focusing on one error type — errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics, and so on. Then read once more, focusing on just the errors you make most often. (Keep a list of your most common errors in your writing journal, and update it as each assignment is returned.)
  2. Read your essay backward, from the last sentence to the first. Reading in this way will help you spot errors without being distracted by the flow of ideas.
  3. Use the spell-check and grammar-check functions cautiously. The spell-check function can help you spot some — but not all — spelling and keyboarding errors. For example, it cannot detect the difference in meaning between there and their or to and too. Similarly, the grammar-check function can identify only certain kinds of errors and is not a reliable substitute for a careful proofreading.
  4. Read your essay aloud. By reading aloud slowly, you can catch certain errors that sound awkward, such as missing words, errors in verb tense, and errors in the singular or plural forms of nouns.
  5. Ask a classmate to proofread your paper. Another reader may spot errors you have overlooked.