Editing and Proofreading Strategies
Don't Forget Punctuation and Spelling
This final list of questions should help you edit for punctuation and other remaining errors that could distract your readers:
- Have I used commas only where they belong and can I explain each one I use?
- Have I used apostrophes to show possession for nouns? Have I used apostrophes to show contractions with pronouns (if that level of informality is appropriate for your paper)?
- Have I checked commonly confused words, such as affect/effect, to make sure I have the correct one where I use it?
- Have I used the spell checker on my word processor? Have I read the paper again to check for misspelled word the checker doesn't catch?
- Are there other errors I know I make that I need to check for?