How to Proofread Your Own Essay or Dissertation

The first obvious point that is usually missed by students is to start the research for the essay or dissertation sooner rather than later. Working to the last minute deadline will leave you under stress and with no time for checking it over after writing it.

Along the same lines, give yourself a good period of time to write up the essay or dissertation too. Why? because you will not have any time to revise it.

Most students are so relieved to have 'got it out of the way' so that they can get back to their social life ... after all, that is the whole point of being at University isn't it? Not to get a qualification that might just get you a good job - that will happen anyway. Whatever.

OK, just suppose now that you are interested in getting a qualification. You have given yourself plenty of time. The research has been done. The essay or dissertation has been written and there is still a week to go before the deadline. Hand it in? NO! NO! NO! I think not! You need to polish it. The first draft is NEVER the best. When you go through it again, you will almost certainly find ways in which it can be improved.

So first of all, read through your work a couple of times and that will help you to spot any glaring errors of grammar and probably a few typos. It will also serve to alert you to any passages that are clumsily written or parts that don't make any kind of sense at all.

If you are comfortable with the idea, get a friend to read it through for you and to give you some constructive criticism. If not, keep it 'in house' and do the proofreading yourself.

Leave it alone on the next day. Let your subconscious do some work on it. Re-read it, but read it out aloud, the day after. Make any further alterations; you are almost certain to see ways of being more succinct or how to explain things more clearly, almost certain to spot some more spelling, punctuation and grammar errors.

OK, then leave it alone for the next day. The penultimate proofreading technique sounds a bit bizarre but it works. Read it backwards! The logic behind this is that it forces you to really concentrate on each word. That should catch any last few typos. A final read in the forward direction, again out aloud, should help you make any last tweaks to the punctuation and grammar and also to spot anything that might be incorrect or unclear.

Bingo, there you have it. An essay or dissertation that is done to the best of your ability. Something to be proud of. Something that should get you a better grade than it would have gained otherwise.

The apostrophe

First of all, check carefully for misuse of the apostrophe. A lot of people are easily confused when it comes to the apostrophe and use it before the s when pluralising a word. So if you mean more than one of something, don't add an apostrophe! You add an apostrophe to indicate missing letters or possession for example, shortening do not to don't or saying the girl's bag to indicate that the bag belongs to the girl about whom you are speaking (or writing). When indicating that something belongs to several such as several people researching a chemical reaction, the apostrophe follows the pluralising 's' - the researchers' instruments showed ....

Confusion reigns over its and it's. The latter means it is and the former indicates possession - that is a notable exception to the rule of using an apostrophe to indicate possession. I proofread a series of articles for a local writer and in every single one he had confused the two; but he hadn't confused them consistently!