Report Writing Tips - Proofreading

It is important to learn to proofread your reports efficiently and here are some tips:

1) Look for Common Writing Mistakes

• Confusing "it's" and "its"
• Confusing "their," "there," and "they're"
• Capitalizing nouns that are not proper nouns, and failing to capitalize proper nouns
• Run-on sentences
• Sentence fragments
• Poor use of paragraph breaks
• Poor use of commas
• Confusing commas, colons, and semi-colons
• Shifting verb tenses

When checking to see if punctuation is correct, a handy tip is to read sentences out loud. If a sentence sounds incorrect, it probably is, and the problem often has to do with commas or other punctuation.

2) Spell Checking Tips

• Spell checking should never be used instead of a thorough proofread.
• Instead, it should be used to catch mistakes before proofreading, and then used again to catch mistakes after proofreading.
• It's also important to pay attention to the changes made by spell check to make sure incorrect terms don't find their way to the paper.

3) Paper Proofreading and Time Management Skills

• Many students skip proofreading because they run out of time and are grabbing pages out of the printer as they zoom out the door.
• To avoid this, it's important to schedule enough time to research and write a college reports.
• Moreover, the amount of time set aside to write the essay needs to include sufficient time to proofread and make proofreading corrections.
• If at all possible, schedule some time for someone else to look at the paper as well, especially for major assignments.

----Reference: http://bit.ly/6mDmii