You’ve finished! You’re getting ready to submit an important piece of work. But first you need to check it over – to make sure there are no errors, to make sure it ticks all the boxes, to make sure it’s the best it can be. Here are some tips on how to proofread your work:
Firstly, do nothing
Wait! What I mean is: if you’ve just finished a draft, don’t jump to proofreading straight away. Give yourself a day, or two if possible, away from your work. This will allow you to “forget” some of the detail, so you can come back with fresh eyes. It’s very likely that the time away might stimulate new thoughts and ideas – distraction is great for creativity (and for revising, too).
Re-read the brief
Whether this is an essay you started last week, or a PhD thesis you started six months ago, the first step to proofreading is reminding yourself of what the point is.
What are you trying to achieve with the writing?
If you are writing to a formal brief, re-read this carefully. If you set the rules yourself, remind yourself what the outline of your project was before you started. Keep this in mind while you follow the next steps.
What story am I trying to tell?
If your brief has a word limit – make sure you stick to it. Exceeding a word limit sometimes carries a penalty, perhaps even a matched reduction in your total mark, e.g. if you’re 10% over the limit, you might lose 10% of the marks!
On the first proofread, focus on the flow of your work
It’s tempting to focus on the granular details – spellings, missing commas etc. on a first proofread. You can do this of course (and if you see a spelling error while reading, why not correct it?). But in my experience, the best first proofread looks for flow:
Does what you’ve written make sense?
Are there any holes? Or is there anything missing?
Does it need editing rather than proofreading? After all, there’s no point icing a cake if there’s an important layer missing. (This could be a dodgy metaphor I remove during proofreading, for example).
Clarity beats complexity
Whether you are writing a scientific report, a thesis, or a novel, your ideas need to be clear. Remove waffle and get to the point. Your reader will thank you, and it makes it easier to emphasize the points you are trying to make. Avoid unnecessary complexity – again, this applies as much in fiction as in research-driven reports. Clarity beats complexity. That’s not to say you can’t have both, but clarity comes first.
Apply the same level of scrutiny to figures and data
If you are proofreading a report with figures or data, be sure to check your legends and labels. Each figure has a message (or otherwise why is it here?) – is this message clear?
On the second read through, focus on the details
Once the flow of your document is checked – we go again! A second proofread. This time for spelling, punctuation and grammar. There are a few tips for doing this:
Don’t rely on spell-checks or AI – Use a spell-check, obviously, that’s what it’s there for. Correct the red squiggles. But anticipate that technical terms and names may flag as errors even if they are correct.
Don’t trust AI to understand a piece of writing it has never seen before.
And if you’re writing something new and original (and there’s a fair chance you are), be cautious with relying on AI tools that apply rules based on what they’ve seen before.
Box it off – Isolate small groups of lines (on a screen with a highlighting cursor or by exposing some lines of a printed copy). This focuses your attention and breaks the proofreading job into chunks. Do the same with each section if it’s a larger report.
Take breaks – This amount of laborious attention to detail is wearing. Taking regular breaks helps you to stay sharp.
Go easy on yourself
Don’t call yourself an idiot, or your text rubbish too many times, even in jest. It builds a narrative that hides the amount of effort you have invested. Celebrate that. And accept that, even if proofreading misses an error (and it nearly always willl), you’ve done all that is humanly possible to present your work at its best.
The final pass – proofreading your references
Saving the most fiddly job for last, we check to see our references or bibliography appears as it should:
Are all the references in the correct format?
Does the body of the text cite the correct reference, or the correct figure, in the correct place?
Give proofreading the time it needs
Often people leave proofreading to the last minute before a deadline. Giving proofreading time can make a huge difference to the finishing touches. If possible, aim to have your draft ready a few days before you intend to submit. You’ve done the hard work, it would be a shame to rush the finishing stages. (No matter how good a cake tastes, people will always remember what it looks like.)
If it’s a paper submission, watch the printer like a hawk
Flick through the pages once printed to make sure the printer hasn’t made any errors to the text or figures. This is especially important if you’re using a shared printer. I once worked with someone who submitted a thesis with Google Map directions to Pizza Hut between chapters two and three as he’d collected everything from a shared printer without checking.
If it’s an online submission, check the submission guidelines
Some submission guidelines are very specific. The text must be formatted a certain way, or saved as a particular type of file. Maybe you need to title an email “FAO” a particular person, or write something specific in a subject line. Make sure you look for submission guidelines to make sure your work gets to where it should be.
How to proofread your work – Optional proofreading steps
If you have the time, loop through and proofread again trying one of these approaches:
Read it again backwards – last paragraph to first, or even last sentence to first. This can give you a different perspective and allow you to spot something you might have missed.
Read it out loud – sometimes this helps to spot errors in the flow of your work.
Read it looking for particular things that you know you do. The amount of times I’ve written “Brian” when I meant “brain”. This is not an error that a spell-checker (human or otherwise) would necessarily pick up on. (I search for Brian in all my writing now).
How to proofread your work – get someone to do it for you!
Having someone else proofread your work is a great idea. A fresh pair of eyes, free from bias, unencumbered by having read it so many times. This could be a friend, or family member or a study buddy. But also…
As luck would have it, I offer proofreading services for academic reports and documents, and critical thinking assignments. Please get in touch if you’d like me to do some proofreading for you. I will provide feedback on how to present your work at its best.
Good luck with your proofreading!
John
Dr John Ankers is specialist tutor and academic coach. He is director of Woolton tutors
