Over the years, I have enjoyed reading several books about writing, and have had practice writing a lot of academic papers. I have found that proofreading and editing is an essential step in the writing process before declaring your paper is “finished.” So, next time you have to turn in an essay, try these strategies before hitting that submit button!
Please note that I mainly recommend all of these strategies for high school and older students, but upper elementary and middle school students can use the first three strategies too.
1. Do a spelling and grammar check.
Whether you are using Microsoft Word, Pages, or some other word processing software, utilize the spelling and grammar tools provided for you to correct spelling and grammar errors. You don’t want your teacher to be counting your mistakes instead of reading your essay!
2. Make sure each sentence is complete.
Hopefully, your word processing software caught any sentences that were incomplete, but sometimes this isn’t always the case. It’s worth checking to make sure all of your sentences are grammatically correct, particularly if your essay is handwritten.
A sentence is considered a complete thought. A grammatically correct sentence has a subject (or agent) and a predicate (action of the sentence). You can do a quick review to see if any of your sentences are incomplete with run-ons or fragments in your essay.
Run-on sentences have two or more independent clauses (i.e., more than one complete thought) connected incorrectly. If your sentence is 3-4 lines on a page, it could be a run-on sentence. A fragment is a sentence that is missing either a subject or a predicate.
The more practice you have analyzing the function of each word in a sentence (remember those sentence diagrams in school??), the easier it will be to identify a run-on sentence or a fragment.
Older students might find this site from The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill about fragments and run-on sentences helpful.
This one from Walden University has information about run-ons and fragments as well.
3. Read your essay out loud.
Reading your essay aloud helps you to monitor for readability and word flow. If you are tripping up with the words in your essay as you read it out loud, most likely your reader will too. When this happens, change the words in the sentence so it reads more easily.
4. Write out contractions.
Contractions, like can’t, won’t, aren’t, and that’s, are too informal for academic writing. Simply write out those contractions, such as change won’t into will not, and move on.
Which leads me to my next tip….
5. Rearrange sentences ending in a preposition.
Some common prepositions are: to, from, for, on, with, about, and by. Look here for a comprehensive list of prepositions.
Prepositions are meant to have a few words (or a phrase) after them, so it is generally poor grammar to end a sentence with one.
Example: She didn’t know who to submit the essay to.
Change to: She did not know to whom to submit the essay.
6. Delete “that” whenever possible.
Sentences with that often do not serve a function in a sentence. You can do a “Find” search in your document and see how the sentence sounds when you take out that. If it still makes sense when removed, then delete the word. If it doesn’t make sense to you without it, you can keep that in the sentence.
Here’s an example: Strong writing is a skill that many people would like to have.
Change to: Strong writing is a skill many people would like to have.
7. Change passive voice to active voice.
Sentences with passive voice usually have verbs with -ing, include has, have, was, or is before the main verb, or contain by near the end of the sentence. You can take a look at this website by 4 Syllables to find more information about active voice. Here’s another one by Grammarly that helps to elucidate active versus passive voice in sentences.
An example: The student was learning grammar to develop strong writing skills.
Change to: The student learned grammar to develop strong writing skills.
8. Check for repetition.
This one comes from my high school English teacher, and I’ve used it ever since. To develop variety in your word choice, see if the same words are at the end of sentences, beginning of sentences, or the beginning of paragraphs.
For instance, run your finger along the margin of the document to see if the paragraphs start with the same or different words. If the same word appears at the beginning of two of your paragraphs in a row, replace the word or rearrange the words in the sentence so the the paragraphs start differently. (As practice, take a look at the beginning of the paragraphs in this blog post to see if any of them start with the same word.)
Additionally, see whether any of your sentences have the same word before and after a period. You can use pronouns or transitions words when this happens in your essay.
Sometimes you also might notice that you used the same word repeatedly throughout the essay. Pick up a thesaurus or find one online, like this one, to replace the word with a synonym.
9. Write in third person point of view (POV).
Edit sentences with I, me, we, our, or you, which would be first person or second person POV respectively. This includes any words, like “I believe,” “I know,” or “I feel.” These words are usually not necessary in an academic essay. It is understood that the entire paper is about what you think, so you don’t need to include it in your writing.
Example: I believe the Roman Empire was the greatest in history.
Change to: The Roman Empire was the greatest in history. (Then, back it up with evidence!)
And that’s it! These are just a few strategies to help your writing showcase the content of your essay, rather than distract from it. The more you have a grasp on grammar rules and how to write well, the more confident you will feel to throw out some of those same rules to serve the purpose of your essay!
Best of luck with your assignments and keep on writing!
Please submit a comment below to tell me your own writing tips or have other topics you would like me to discuss in future blog posts.
