Effective proof reading

Your written work may be interesting, well structured and informed. Yet it may still make a bad impression because of poor proof reading.

Part of your assessment will usually relate to the standard of your written English. It's important to pay attention to things like tenses, gender, plurals and the structure of your sentences, especially if you have rewritten or moved sections of your work. It's easy to lose marks - but it's also easy to make sure you don't.

This brief guide offers ten brief tips to help you to proof read your work as effectively as possible.

Click here for a printable guide on this topic (this is designed to be printed double-sided on A4 paper, then folded to make an A5 leaflet).

Ten tips for better proof reading

1. Print it off - it's much more difficult to read onscreen and there's always the temptation to start doing major rewrites.
2. Leave it a day - if you can, leave some time between finishing your full draft and proof reading. It's easier to read critically when it's not so fresh in your mind.
3. Read aloud - small errors of expression and punctuation are more likely to become obvious if you read aloud.
4. Punctuate your reading -put pauses in for punctuation, timed differently for different punctuation marks - so take a breath for commas, come to a halt for full stops. This is a good way to see if your sentences are too long or too short.
5. Take it slowly - if you have time to do a really thorough proofing, first read each sentence in a paragraph one at a time to make sure each makes sense. Then read the whole paragraph. Finally, when you've read all the paragraphs, read the whole essay through.
6. Take care with cut and paste - if you decide to move things about, don't forget to check the whole sentence again afterwards to make sure all the tenses, genders and plurals agree. Using the grammar check tool in Microsoft Word can help to prevent any errors. Or if you're using your own PC or laptop, you could download this free software: Ginger grammar and spell checker.
7. Learn punctuation rules - make sure you know how to use commas, apostrophes, colons and semi-colons. For more on this, see our guide to Punctuation.
8. Check your referencing - always check your course handbook for preferred conventions - if you have to reference something that's not covered there, be consistent. See our pages on  Reading, note-taking and referencing for more.
9. Get another view - ask a friend to read through your work. Offer to do the same for them. Especially good if you can't leave time between writing and proofing - another pair of eyes will be fresher.
10. Use your feedback - always read and learn from your academic feedback.Use it to make a list of the things you often get wrong. Look out for these especially. They should start to disappear as you get used to doing them right.

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For more on academic writing, see...

Grammar

Punctuation

Writing style

Essays, reports and dissertations

If English is not your first language, you may find the resources and activities on the British Council's website Learn English useful.

If you are a University of Reading student and English is not your first language, the In-sessional English Support Programme (IESP) provides training courses in academic writing skills, speaking skills, and pronunciation practice. There is a small charge for students not paying full overseas fees.

Improve your understanding of grammar and punctuation - an excellent site with clear explanations and plenty of online exercises to test your understanding (University of Bristol).