the university writing center
"because writers need readers"

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What is the UWC?
Proofreading Techniques
Get a Fresh Perspective
  • Take a break (as little as 5 minutes) between writing and proofreading.
  • Ask someone to read the paper to you, or read the paper to someone else.
  • Read the paper into a tape recorder; play back tape while you follow along.
  • Listen for:
    • places where what is read differs from what is written
    • places where the reader stumbles for any reason
    • places where the listener gets distracted, confused, or bored

Slow Down

  • Cover your writing with a ruler or scratch paper so you can see only one line of text at a time.
  • Read backward, sentence by sentence (for unclear sentence structure, redundancy).
  • Read backward, word by word (for typos and spelling mistakes).
  • Point at every word as you read each word aloud.
  • Circle verbs (helps you locate passive voice, "strong" verbs, tense shifts).
  • Circle prepositions (helps you locate unnecessary wordiness).
  • (For citations) Point at punctuation marks as you name each piece of the citation aloud: "Last name comma year. Date colon page numbers."

 
Personalize the Process
  • Create an "editing checklist" of mistakes you commonly make.
  • Read through the paper several times, looking for a different potential problem each time (pronoun/antecedent, verb tense, passive voice, to/too/two, etc.)
  • Keep the checklist for use on subsequent papers. Update the list every time a paper is returned.

 
Use a Computer
  • Print a draft designed especially for proofreading.
  • Put in extra "hard returns" so that each sentence starts on a new line.
    Use 14 point or larger type.
  • Double- or Triple-space the lines so that you have room to write corrections and notes.
  • Use find/replace function for items on your editing checklist, including wordiness flags ("to be" verbs, prepositions, etc.) and typos (from/form, extra spaces after period, unnecessary commas, etc.).
  • Use spell check and grammar check software. These programs are never foolproof--they'll flag some items which are perfectly fine and ignore others which are serious problems--so you still need to proofread on your own. But "checker" software can give you a head start.