Proofreading Tips from a Writer and Tutor #Affiliate

If you are new here, my name is Tarryn and I am a writer, private tutor and academic support worker. I primarily work with dissertation students and students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in a range of subjects, focusing on literacy in academic and creative writing. In other words – I do A LOT of proofreading – in both in my work and for others. As an example, I often work with university students writing dissertations. I might not know much about the subject itself, but I can help with structure, clarity and the overall ‘shape’ of the project. More often than not – students will write something in a first draft and then ask ‘what now’?

I have some top tips for students and writers alike.

Use a proofreading tool such as Grammarly

Grammarly is an excellent way to help you proofread your work. Depending on whether you use the free version or the paid version, you will have different tips on how to correct your work. Grammarly‘s free version flags issues such as; spelling errors; clarity; engagement and delivery.

Premium advanced alerts include issues such as; intricate text, punctuation in complex sentences and individual word choice. There are way more features but it would be boring to list them all here.

Another key premium tool for students is the plagiarism tool. This checks your work for similarities and direct copies of other published and intellectual works. So if Grammarly highlights a quote and you haven’t got a reference for it… you need to find the reference. But at least you know about it now. Universities take plagiarism very seriously, possibly leading to fines, court hearings and even a criminal record.

Using Grammarly doesn’t mean you don’t have to proofread, but it will significantly reduce the time it takes for you to do it. This means you can spend more time on the content of the project rather than figuring out what is wrong with your comma in that evil sentence.

If you are using Grammarly‘s free tools, here are some tips on how to proofread your work more ‘manually’.

Read aloud

I know you have all heard your teachers saying this. That’s because it works. Reading aloud (or whispering it to yourself in your room like a madman) slows your reading speed and forces you to read what is actually on the page. If you can’t read it aloud, your sentence is too long or too convoluted. Simplify it.

If you try and ‘sound smart’ you will probably overcomplicate it. Write it in simple sentences. You can improve this later, but at least it makes sense.

Read for a specific error

Do you happen to know that you repeat yourself a lot? Or maybe, you are a comma fiend and you either use way too many or not enough. With this in mind, read your work specifically looking for these issues. If you aren’t sure what your common errors are, ask a teacher, tutor or member of staff to read through your work. They can often tell you what your common mistakes are. You are way less likely to miss mistakes if you know what you are looking for.

Ask someone to help

I know this doesn’t always work or you don’t feel comfortable doing it. But try and give your work to someone; a friend, parent, peer, etc. Even find someone who you trust and swap essays. Read one another’s and give feedback. You can also talk to them about what they have written and possibly even borrow things they did well. I don’t mean copying their work – but maybe you liked their visual representation of statistics. Sharing is caring.

Make your computer read it

This is a great idea if you can’t ask someone else to read it. Most word processors have a ‘read aloud’ function. If you have a Mac laptop, you can normally highlight the text and right-click to ‘speak’. If your particular situation is not mentioned, give it a google.

But if you are in the library please use headphones. I am sure your biochemistry essay is really interesting but the kid studying art history doesn’t need to hear it.

The computer will read it exactly as you have written it. Sometimes we read what we meant and not what is there. A computer doesn’t do that, so we can hear something that sounds weird and change it.

Don’t read it all at once

So there is this thing called active reading/listening. Basically, if you have a 3000-word essay and you try to proofread (which requires active reading) all at once, you might burn out before the end. This means that the first, say, 500 words are going to be proofread perfectly but after that there is a gradual descent into scanning the screen until they don’t look like words anymore.

I understand that this tip sort of goes with the ‘don’t leave it until the night before’ advice, but it really is helpful. Even if you write a paragraph, proof it, write the next bit, then proof that, and so on.

Side note: I have had so many students say ‘but I work better under pressure’. I understand where you’re coming from. But it’s not strictly true. The adrenaline of a looming deadline might feel like it is making you more focused but it is also limiting your ability to notice mistakes. If you find looming deadlines helpful, work with a tutor or teacher to create mini-deadlines. Ask if you can send pockets of work to them (or someone) by a specific day and time up until the deadline. Your teacher may not be able to mark it but the deadline can be helpful. If you are in university, setting tutorials and giving yourself ‘homework’ for these tutorials can be a way to get feedback on your work and manage your time better. Do let me know if a post about managing deadlines and organisation would be helpful!

Print your work.

This might not work for everyone. Disabilities and difficulties might make this one more challenging. That said, if you can, print out your work and go through it with a pen or pencil. Make changes to the paper as your English teacher does at school. Print it on coloured paper if you find it easier to read on a specific colour (I prefer to read on blue). Use double spacing on the document before printing so that you have room to write your changes.

This last tip doesn’t include Grammarly, but if you have been using it previously, there shouldn’t be too many grammatical errors and no spelling errors. So, on paper, you are looking for clarity and whether you are happy with the flow of it. It also makes it feel more like a finished copy because you can see the layout and what it looks like on the page. This will also alert you to any strange page breaks or images floating away from their relevant text.

Grammarly premium can check for most of the things I have mentioned. So, why would you not want to take advantage of it? I have chosen to be a Grammarly Affiliate because I use Grammarly. I use it for myself and my students. I used it through my BA and MA because sometimes just using spell check doesn’t quite cut it and proofing can drive you nuts.

If you would like to sign up for free and use Grammarly click here. It is completely free unless you choose to upgrade to premium, making it perfect for tight budget students. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Do let me know if there is anything you would like to know more about. I know there is lots of information out there but it can sometimes be confusing. If you are a student with questions about how to write, manage your time, take notes, or anything academically related, comment on this post or chat to me on social media and I will do my best to collate some easy to read information for you all.

Remember to sign up (for FREE) to Grammarly before you go.