?8 Tips for Proofreading Your College Essay
8 Tips for Proofreading Your College Essay
According to college admissions professionals, proofreading is probably the most important thing one can do to improve your college essay. Do not overlook this key step in preparing your essay. Use these eight tips to proofread your college software essay.
1. Do spell check.
Okay, so the spelling and grammar check resource on your computer won’t catch everything (and typically can even steer you wrong), but it is a outstanding location to get started on for proofreading. It should catch the best obvious spelling or grammatical errors.
two. Established it aside for a working day.
After you finish creating your essay, established it aside for an entire working day before starting off to proofread it. The time absent from it will clear your head and allow for you to definitely more suitable catch errors after you come back again to it. (Oh, and should you started your essay on the last minute, you can still however use this tip-just established it aside for an hour or two, and then come again to it.)
3. Browse it aloud.
Yes, this is effective. Even professional writers do this. You possibly can scan your individual essay aloud to catch errors or find out places where your sentences are operating on (and on, and on). Or, ask a parent, friend or teacher to look at it aloud to you.
four. Go backwards.
You may have learned this proofreading strategy in English class: Begin proofreading your essay with the conclusion. Working your way from the stop in the essay to the beginning forces you to definitely pay back much more attention to the words around the web page, so you won’t gloss over errors as easily as once you look over it from start off to finish.
5. Print it out.
It may be easier to catch errors with your essay as soon as you print it out, rather than look over it on the computer screen only. Print it out, mark edits relating to the paper and enter the changes as part of your electronic document.
6. Proofread in a very quiet area.
The Composing Center on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recommends finding a quiet location to operate when proofreading your creating. That suggests turning off the TV, silencing your smartphone (or even putting it in another room or turning it off) and finding a spot absent from other distractions.
7. Cover up lines you’re not reading.
The Composing Center with the University of Wisconsin-Madison recommends making use of a blank sheet of paper to cover up the lines below the one particular you’re reading. “This technique keeps you from skipping ahead of practical mistakes,” says the center’s web page.
8. Double check college names.
At any time you utilize a college name inside your essay, make sure it is the right college name. “While we understand students will apply to various colleges and universities, it is always discouraging to see a student mention another university’s name in their essay,” says Hannah Bingham, first-year admissions coordinator on the University of North Carolina Wilmington .
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