Editing and proofreading are important in the writing process. When you edit and proofread your essay, you make it better. While these two are tedious, they can be simple if done in an organized manner. Before we learn how to proofread and edit your essay, let see the difference between the two.
- Editing
Editing an essay comes before proofreading. It is done after writing the first draft. To edit, read your essay to see if;
- It is well-organized
- It has evidence backing up the main argument
- Transitions are smooth between paragraphs
Editing takes place at several levels.
- Content
When editing on the content level, you check several things. You check whether;
- Your claims are accurate
- You have an argument
- The argument is complete
- You have provided enough evidence
- Your information is relevant
- Check paper for plagiarism
- Essay structure
When editing, you check the structure of your essay. These are some of the things you check;
- Whether your paper has an introduction, body, and conclusion
- Whether the paragraphs are arranged in a logical order
- Whether paragraphs have topic sentences
- Citations
On this level, you check if you have cited your sources correctly. For instance, if your instructor requires MLA/APA citation format, have you used it correctly? You may also be required to write an annotated bibliography, you have to do write it properly.
- Style
Don’t forget to check your style. Make sure you have used the proper tone. Check on sentence structure, and word choice. Make necessary changes as you read through your essay. Up to this point you should be able to edit your essay effectively, however, if you have not mastered you might seek help from college essay editing service that has experts that offer such a service. Make sure to check out copywriting for business proposal services.
- Proofreading
Proofreading happens after editing your essay. It focuses on surface errors. These include punctuation errors, grammar, and misspellings. Proofreading is important because such errors easily distract a reader from reading your content.
Now that we know the difference between editing and proofreading, how then do you proofread and edit an essay?
How to proofread and edit an essay
Step 1: Take a break
You need a clear head to effectively edit and proofread your essay. Therefore, even if it is for a short time, take a break after writing your first draft. You can listen to a song or go for a run. Do something that will refresh your mind. After this break, you will look at your essay from a new perspective. At this stage, editing and proofreading will be way easier.
Step 2: Remove distractions
Before you start the editing process, remove all distractions. Find a quiet room. You need undivided attention to find the errors. Don’t even have your phone around.
Step 3: Read the essay for editing
Read the essay slowly. Read word by word. You can try reading out aloud. This forces you to read and hear each word. This will give you a chance to see errors. Reading quickly and silently may have you skip some flaws. Change anything that doesn’t sound good. As we have said, do editing first. Look at the content, structure, and citations.
Step 4: Reread your essay
First, you can use spellcheckers to proofread the essay. However, you can’t completely rely on them. For example, spell checkers may not catch errors when you use
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