How To Correct An Essay: Useful Tips For “Newbies”

Before handing in any essay, you have to edit it to ensure that you are using proper grammar and spelling. You also want to edit your paper so that it expresses your ideas the way that you want it to. The editing process is not always easy because if you knew the mistakes, you probably wouldn’t have made them in the first place. Here are some useful tips for “newbies”

• Use the grammar and spell check that are available on your word program. Most word programs have a built in spelling and grammar checker that can be used to catch some of your mistakes. It will go through your entire paper to find out if there are any words that it doesn’t recognize the spelling for. It will also go through and highlight some common grammatical mistakes. Be sure to go through each of the words or phrases that the program finds carefully to ensure that you are fixing the issue. There are some times when the grammar check is incorrect. This is because the grammar check will only check the word directly in front to see if it matches grammatically. Also, the spelling check may bring up a name as an incorrect spelling. If this is the case, check the spelling and ignore if it is correct. Be aware that the spell check will not indicate if a word is spelled correctly but is the wrong word. For example, I have too bananas. It will not recognize that I should have used the word “two” instead of “too”.


• Read your paper out loud. Sometimes when you read your paper out loud you can hear the mistakes that you made. When you read out loud, you tend to read slower and it makes it easier for you to catch mistakes. If the sentence doesn’t sound right to you then you will find it easier when reading out loud. When you read your essay in your head, your mind may automatically fix errors without your knowledge.


• Have someone proof read your paper for you. This can be an essential tool. Someone else may be able to find errors that you have missed. They can also point out sections of your paper that may be confusing. Getting advice from someone else is always a helpful tool. Maybe you can trade papers with a classmate and review their paper while they review yours.

Hope these tips help you correct your essay so that you can hand in an A plus paper.