Academic papers always constitute part and parcel of a student’s life in school. Students, therefore, have to write their assignments properly to score highly when their academic term ends. It, however, needs you to have a good command of the right language (English) besides no errors. So what punctuation and grammar errors should you become weary of in your write-up? How can you effectively proofread your work to rid it off of mistakes?
Best ways to Proofread Basic Punctuation and Grammar in Your Paper
Proofreading can prove complex as you always have every picture of the paper in mind. However, you have to transform your perception about your work, and you can use the following pointers to make it tenable.
- Work ahead. It always proves wise and useful to step away to ensure you get a fresh perspective on your work, once you complete writing it. It, therefore, implies having the initial rough draft way ahead of its due date.
- Listen to what your teachers tell you. Please consider what your instructors tell you, and if they point out run-on sentences, try and improve by taking in their expertise.
- It can prove useful to plan and read the paper multiple times. Designate every moment for another challenge.
- Search for run-on sentences and sentence fragments
- Check the document to ensure that you have only incorporated the right verbs. Here, you must ensure that the verb aligns with the paper’s subject, become consistent with your tense.
- Check and ensure that you properly use pronouns. The pronoun has to prove clear and refer to what you intend it to portray. Ensure that the pronoun gets used in the right form.
- Look out for typically confused words like “there,” and “they’re.” Ensure the punctuation proves right. Here, you can use a spell-checker to note grammar errors. As much as the spell-checker cannot identify every mistake, it can correctly compare the paper space-wise to determine a standard. So run the software each time you change something.
- Read the paper aloud to force yourself into slowing down and looking at what you might have missed by sight.
- Ruler. You have to utilize a ruler by placing it under every line while reading the paper. It can prove a useful technique whenever you find the entire text overwhelming.
- Circle whatever you think suspect. It can prove useful to circle whatever you deem suspect, especially when you prove culpable of run-on sentences. When you circle each comma in your document, then it can become easy to decide if you have used it correctly. It can also work when it comes to pronouns and verb problems.
- Read the document in reverse and use a piece of paper or ruler to guide you. Reading sentences in this manner will assist you in checking the mistakes you have committed, especially when it comes to comparing the text you have penned down as opposed to what you had intended to write.
- Try and get someone else to read your work.
Conclusion
Proofreading and editing your work proves critical after putting in the hard yards in writing your paper. So ensure you do it right to achieve maximum results.