Proofread your work

Here are some notes to help you review your work. Add your own points to the list if you have other personal writing problems or common mistakes.

1. Use a spelling checker. It is the easiest way to correct common errors and to spot problems such as twowords running together. However, once you’ve finished with your spelling checker, read your paper out loud. The spelling checker will not pick up wrong words which are spelled correctly: Did you mean tap or tape? Which or witch? There, they’re or their?
2. Use the above checklist to review each draft of your essay. It’s best to write your essay then put it away for a few days then look at it again with new eyes.
3. Always plan your essay. The plan will help to remind you where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?
4. Always write a second draft of your essay. There is no such thing as the perfect essay. However, they more drafts you produce, the closer you will get to perfection.
5. After you finish a draft of an essay, let it sit for a few days. When you come back to it, you are more likely to see it with a fresh eye and will find it easier to make changes.
6. As an exercise to improve your essay writing, after you have saved your essay to disk, try writing the contrary argument in a new essay. Keep both versions side by side to compare their strengths.