Writing Essays and Assignments
Reviewing and Proofreading
Once you've finished the first draft of your essay, it's important not to assume it's all over, finished, ready to hand in. A big mistake many students make (and which leads to lower grades) is not to bother reviewing and proofreading. This is why you should never leave essay writing until the night before the hand-in date.
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Drafting Tips
A little tip for essay drafting is to use the computer for your first draft - even if you will need to handwrite your final version. Using a computer means you can edit your work much more easily, moving sentences and paragraphs around, and cutting down the word count with a visible counter.
You can also use Read & Write Gold to help proofread your work before you create your final piece.
Once you have your final draft on the screen, you can either print this out, or pull out your note paper and start writing it out.
A lot of students who need to handwrite their essays only ever create one draft and usually hand this in as a final piece - this is fine for a bit of timed practice, but is no good for coursework assignments or formal essays. You need to draft and re-draft to get things right.
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Reviewing Checklist
Here's a review checklist which might be useful for you to make sure that you have gone through all the necessary processes in the preparation of your essay. As you read through your draft, answer the following questions:
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- Have I answered the particular question that was set?
break - Have I divided up the question into separate smaller questions and answered these?
break - Have I covered all the main aspects?
break - Have I covered those in enough depth?
break - Is the content relevant?
break - Is the content accurate?
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break - Does the essay move smoothly from one section to the next, from paragraph to paragraph?
break - Is each main point supported by examples and evaluation?
break - Have I acknowledged all sources and references?
break - Have I distinguished clearly between my own ideas and those of others?
break - Is the essay the right length?
break - Have I written plainly and simply, using formal and appropriate language and terminology?
break - Have I read it aloud (or had it read aloud) at least once to sort out clumsy and muddled phrasing?
break - Are the grammar, punctuation and spelling acceptable?
break - Is the essay neatly and legibly written (if handwritten), or neatly laid out (if typed)?
break - Have I presented a convincing case which I could justify in a discussion?
- Have I answered the particular question that was set?
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Proofreading Tips
No matter how carefully we examine a text, it seems there's always one more little mistake waiting to be discovered. There's no fool-proof formula for perfect proofreading every time. It's just too tempting to see what we meant to write rather than the words that actually appear on the page or screen. But these tips should help you see (or hear) your errors before anybody else does.
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Give it a rest.
If time allows, set your text aside for a few hours (or days) after you've finished your first draft, and then proofread it with fresh eyes. Rather than remember the perfect paper you meant to write, you're more likely to see what you've actually written.
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Look for one type of problem at a time.
Read through your text several times, concentrating first on sentence structures, then word choice, then spelling, and finally punctuation. As the saying goes, if you look for trouble, you're likely to find it.
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Double-check facts, figures, and proper names.
In addition to reviewing for correct spelling and usage, make sure that all the information in your text is accurate.
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Review a hard copy.
Print out your text and review it line by line: rereading your work in a different format may help you catch errors that you previously missed.
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Read your text aloud.
Or better yet, use Read & Write Gold, or ask a friend or colleague to read it aloud. You may hear a problem (a faulty verb ending, for example, or a missing word) that you haven't been able to see.
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Use a spellchecker, but carefully.
The Microsoft (or Apple) spellchecker can help you catch repeated words, reversed letters, and many other common errors - but it's certainly not fool-proof. If you’re not sure, you can also try the spellcheck on Read & Write Gold, which provides dictionary definitions alongside spellings, helping you to pick the correct word.
Trust in a dictionary. Your spellchecker can tell you only if a word is a word, not if it's the right word. For instance, if you're not sure whether sand is in a desert or a dessert, use a dictionary (or try this Glossary of Commonly Confused Words).
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Read your text backward.
Another way to catch spelling errors is to read backward, from right to left, starting with the last word in your text. Doing this will help you focus on individual words rather than sentences.
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Create your own proofreading checklist.
Keep a list of the types of mistakes you commonly make, and then refer to that list each time you proofread.
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Ask for help.
Invite someone else to proofread your text after you have reviewed it. A new set of eyes may immediately spot errors that you've overlooked.
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The Review Checklist was adapted from Godalming College L6 Core Studies Tutorial Programme, Student Guide, 2007-8
The Proofreading Tips were adapted from http://grammar.about.com/od/improveyourwriting/a/tipsproofreading.htm