General Writing Advice

Proofreading

Here are some tips to help you proofread your writing so grammar, mechanics, and formatting are perfect. 

Proofreading Strategies
This link takes you to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab where you will find excellent proofreading strategies.  There are also links for editing and revising.

Some tips that have been culled from different sources.

1.  Proofread on paper.  It's often difficult to catch errors on a computer monitor.

2.  Take a break from your paper.  Put it aside for at least an hour (a day would be perfect), then look at it with fresh eyes and a fresh mind.

3.  Proofread the second half of the paper first -- that is where the errors tend to crop up. Then proofread the first half.

4.  Enlarge the font or the pages in the copier.  This changes your reading pattern and helps make errors more obvious.

5.  Proofread backwards. Begin at the end and work back through the paper paragraph by paragraph or even line by line. This will force you to look at the surface elements rather than the meaning of the paper.

6.  Place a ruler or a sheet of paper under each line as you read it. This will give your eyes a manageable amount of text to read.

7.  Know your own typical mistakes. Before you proofread, look over papers you have written in the past. Make a list of the errors you make repeatedly.

8.  Proofread for one type of error at a time. If you know you mix verb tenses,  go through the paper checking just that one problem. Then proofread again for the next most frequent problem.

9. Proofread once aloud. This will slow you down and you will hear the difference between what you meant to write and what you actually wrote.