Ana Weaver
Before you can actually get excited about completing your college essay, there is one more important step that you’ll have to take – proofreading it. Although it might be completely tempting to skip this part of the process, don’t, especially since you’ll want to represent your work as best as you can to impress your professors.
However, do you know why it’s important that you go through your essay? Are there things that you’ll have to focus on? In this article, we’ll talk about some of the methods for ensuring that your essays are grammatically correct and on point, but before we take a look at that, let’s learn more about the importance of proofreading:
Proofreading: Explained
The first thing that you should be aware of is that any grammatical and spelling mistake will stick out on a college paper, and in most cases, it can leave a negative impression on whoever is going to see it. Such mistakes won’t only cause the professor to question your abilities, but, they’ll also start wondering about whether or not you’ve completely committed to your task. This means that not checking your essay once you’re done could impact the grade you’ll receive in the end.
Now, the whole point of proofreading isn’t that you should only check for spelling errors, instead, you’ll want to check if you misspelled some names, used the incorrect verb tenses, repeated a word too many times, and more importantly, whether or not your article is on point. To ensure that you didn’t make some of the mistakes we’ve mentioned, keep these tips in mind when checking your college paper for mistakes:
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First Things First – Know What You Need to Check
If you want to make sure that your essay is free of any mistakes that could cause a red flag when someone goes through it, you should know what things you’ll have to check. Hence, when you’re done with your paper, leave it for a few days, and then check for any typos, incorrect word usage (e.g. weather vs whether), improper punctuation (comma, full stops, question marks, and so on), incorrect capitalization, inconsistent verb tenses, and missing segments/words.
As you’re checking the paper, there are some other things that you should check as well, including whether or not the paper is on point (and if it remains like that), if you’ve managed to clearly state what your thoughts are, if you have avoided using complicated and long sentences, as well as if your paper features the instructions and word total instructed by your professor. Once you’re done with all of these steps, you can move on to the next task.
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Leave it For a Couple of Days
When you first go through your college paper, your next step is to leave it for a couple of days. Why? Well, staring at the same thing and words for too long could cause you to overlook some mistakes, and if you leave it for a few days, you’ll improve your chances of discovering some mistakes that you didn’t previously see. Naturally, this won’t be possible if you need to submit it in two days, which is why you should never wait last minute to complete it, meaning that you should start early and take your time.
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Reading it Aloud Can Be Beneficial
I’m a content writer, and one of the things that really help me spot the mistake I’ve made is reading my own writing aloud. After all, I’ll be aware of what I’ve written, however, the less obvious mistakes might be difficult to spot since my brain will be full of information on the topic. To avoid being in a dilemma, read it aloud, mostly because it’ll be simpler for you to hear the mistakes you’ve made, especially the ones that are correct, but simply sound wrong.
For instance, you could determine the places where you didn’t make a smooth transition between the sentences you’ve used, and more importantly, you’ll determine whether or not you’ve repeated something too many times. Besides doing it by yourself, you could also opt for hiring some professional services such as the ones offered by Homeworkhelpglobal. By doing so, you can ensure that everything in your paper is correct and on point.
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Marking Different Elements Could Help
Another thing that you might want to try is marking different elements in your college paper. For example, if you want to ensure that there aren’t any punctuation mistakes, grab a red pen and start circling every punctuation mark. Hence, when you start reading it again, you’ll kind of force yourself to look closely at each one of them, hence, it’ll be simpler for you to determine whether or not you need to change or correct something.
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Try Reading it Backwards
For a more daunting approach, you could also read your paper backward. What does this step have to do with reviewing the correctness of my paper? Well, everything. Although this will be more complex for you, it can help you spot any errors in your writing, meaning that you won’t have to worry about any mistakes. If you want to focus on your spelling, read each word backward. Yes, it won’t help with the structure and context of it, but it’ll help with any other mistakes that you might have made along the way.
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Ask Someone to Read it
When you do everything that we recommended in this article, your last step is to ask someone to read the essay you’ve already corrected. Why should you do this? Well, it’s quite simple to understand – by then you’ll probably know the essay by heart, and getting some fresh eyes on your writing could help you discover some mistakes that you’ve overlooked. Hence, if your friend, family members, or partner can help, let them!
Conclusion
One of the last steps that you’ll have to go through when writing a college essay is to proofread it. By following all of the tips we’ve mentioned above, you’ll certainly make the entire process simpler and less time-consuming, but more importantly, you’ll ensure that you haven’t made any critical mistake that could hinder your academic performance.
Since you’ve now learned what you’ll have to do, you really shouldn’t waste any more of your free time. Instead, if you’ve finished your college essay, take another look at it and start from the first tip we’ve mentioned in our list above – which is checking your essay for any obvious and common spelling and punctuation mistakes.