The Last Step

The final step to any writing process is proofreading. Many of us don’t wait for the paper to be finished to begin proofing and editing our work, but no matter how much we have done along the way, it is often helpful to spend one last moment with your paper focusing on its sentences.

There are a few key points to make:
1. Be realistic. You have to turn this paper in on Thursday. You cannot start proofreading and then decide you want to change your topic, nor can you rewrite the entire thing. You are stuck with this. But you can make significant changes that might dramatically improve your grade.
2. If your proofing process leads to a lot of new writing, be sure to go back and proof it again. Spend one LAST pass through the paper skimming for typos, fragments, missing apostrophes and such.
3. Understand the difference between revision and editing. Revision means you are making big, significant changes to your paper. Editing means you are fine tuning the language. Revision is installing the engine, editing is running it through the car wash and vacuuming the seats.

Here’s a 10-step process for this.
1. Take a break between when you stop writing and begin editing. Let your brain recharge. Let the muse find its way back to your shoulder.
2. Understand your purpose, according to Murray, “Editing helps you to have a fresh and objective look at your essay and do away with its weak points. Editing is a careful process of going through your essay paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word by word.”
3. Start editing your essay with the spellchecker and grammar checker option on your computer. But don’t stop here. Most spell checkers are valuable. Most grammar-checkers are not. NEVER hit change all.
4. Next print out your essay and edit it manually. Read the thesis and see if it:

* is clear, argumentative and easy to grasp? I should know what you are trying to communicate
* reflects the content of the essay? If not, rewrite it. It is okay to change your thesis to fit your paper.

5. Then go on to editing the introduction. Is it interesting? What last second changes might you make to bolster its ability to catch our attention?

6. From, www.bestessaytips.com: “Check if each paragraph contains relevant information and is free of meaningless sentences. There should be transition sentences linking the paragraphs. Otherwise your writing will look jerky without a clear transition from one point into the next. Try reading backwards, a sentence at a time. You will be able to focus on the sentences, rather than on the content of your essay. Refine your sentences and make them smooth and clear. Get rid of too long sentences. Pay attention to the rhythm of your writing: vary sentence lengths and patterns.”


7. The conclusion is the last thing the professors read and the first thing they remember. So make sure it takes the next step. Explain why this topic is important. What it reflects in society. What further measures should be taken. Etc.

8. Read it out loud. There is no substitution for this. Manually check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Proofread for one type of error at a time. If commas are your weak point, look through your paper checking only that problem. Then proofread again for the next most frequent problem. Be especially attentive when checking your references. Make sure all the cited and paraphrased material is properly referenced.

9. Ask somebody to read through your paper and offer suggestions for polishing it.

10. Make the changes. Spell check. If time permits, read through it once more before submitting it. Save it on your hard drive, your jump drive and email it to yourself.