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Study Skills: Proof-Reading + Self-Editing

Study Skills

Proofreading

 

 

What is Proofreading?

Proofreading is the part of the editing process that involves re-reading your own work or someone else’s piece of writing in order to catch mistakes like typos, grammatical errors, formatting errors,
and missing words.

Editing Own Work

 

        

 

Tips for Editing Your Own Work

 

1. Read your writing in a new format
If you typed it, print it out. Alternatively, convert your Word document to PDF format, or change your text to a different font, color, and size. These techniques will help you see your content from an “outsider’s” perspective and give you a more critical eye.

2. Take a Break
Let your writing rest for a few hours or overnight. Putting a literal distance between you and your work also creates an emotional distance. When you return to it, you’re more likely to spot awkward phrases and obvious mistakes.

3. Read it Out Loud
To discover the rhythm of your writing, read it out loud. The best writing sounds smooth, so if you find yourself stammering through poorly worded sentences, you know it needs improving.

4. Remove Uncertain Language
Good communication sounds authoritative, so avoid wishy-washy sentences. If you use phrases like “seems to be” or “could be a reason for,” you sound indecisive and it weakens your message.

5. Avoid Repetitive Phrases
Try not to rely on certain words or phrases to make your point; readers will notice when you repeat yourself. Aim for variety. Use a word frequency counter to find repetitive words and scan a thesaurus to find alternatives.

6. Eliminate Filler Words
Use your word processor’s find functionality to search for “there,” “here,” and “it” to find redundant words and phrases. 

7. Remove Weak Adjectives
Weak adjectives also spoil your writing. When describing nouns and pronouns, use more powerful adjectives and avoid the words “really” or “very.”

8. Separate your Editing Tasks
If the thought of editing your own work terrifies you, break down the tasks into a series of manageable steps. In the first read-through, check your ideas flow logically. In the next read-through, look at sentence structure, and so on.

 

Ref.: Justesen, I. (2017). 11 tips for editing your own writing. Constant Content. https://www.constant-content.com/content-writing-service/2017/10/11-tips-for-editing-your-own-writing/