How to Proofread Your College Paper: A Guide to Common Hotspot Areas and Mistakes

Congratulations! You've gotten through the toughest phases of writing a term paper: devising a thesis, researching sources, and, of course, writing it. But, as you know, you can't quite celebrate yet. The final stage is ahead of you: proofreading.

While some students may consider this stage as purely optional, proofreading is a vital part of the process. After all, you wouldn't want points docked from your paper for careless grammatical mistakes or a missing citation. Most of the "hotspots" I list are probably filled with rules you already know. But it's amazing in our rush to finish a paper how many of these rules we overlook. So grab your trusty red pen (or purple if red demoralizes you) and start proofreading.

Grammar Hotspots

1. Possessives and plurals

The very first rule in Strunk and White's classic Elements of Style covers possessives; perhaps it's because they're so frequently misused. Try to follow these rules when proofreading:

* Never use an apostrophe to pluralize a word, unless it's for a single letter (for example, A's).

* If a noun is singular, simply add an 's at the end to form the possessive. If the noun ends in an "s," then it's your choice (stylebooks differ): you can add an 's or you can just use an apostrophe (for example, James's guitar or James' guitar). Just be consistent.

* If a noun is plural, simply add an apostrophe at the end to form the possessive.

2. Contractions

Contractions also tend to confuse writers. Because of the apostrophes present in contractions, people tend to think of a contraction as the possessive form. And because possessive pronouns (its, hers, their, his) do not take an apostrophe (even though they're possessive-hence their name), people tend to not think of them as a possessive.

So when you're proofreading and see an "its" or "it's," a "they're" or "their," a "your" or "you're," or any other confusing possessives or contractions, take a pause to inspect it.

Whenever you read a contraction, think of it as though it wasn't contracted. For instance, whenever you see "it's," just think "it is." Does the sentence still make sense? Whenever you see "its," think about its counterpart "it's." Would an "it is" make more sense than an "its?"

3. Subject and verb agreement

Verify whether your nouns and verbs agree. Long sentences may slip you up. For instance, let's take a look at the first sentence in this section: "The very first rule in Strunk and White's classic Elements of Style covers possessives." What if I instead wrote: "The very first rule in Strunk and White's classic Elements of Style cover possessives." It's not glaring to the untrained eye, but the verb "cover" is inappropriate for the singular word "rule," which is the subject.

Always try to find the subject and the corresponding verb to see if they're right.

4. Subject and antecedent agreement

You should also check whether your subject agrees with words that redefine that subject (antecedents). For example: "Each senator must ensure their constituents' needs are met" is wrong, since "each senator" is singular and "their" is plural. To correct this sentence either write:

Each senator must ensure his or her constituents' needs are met.

Senators must ensure their constituents' needs are met.

5. Passive voice

You should almost always avoid passive voice, unless you don't want to name the subject or think that the action outweighs the subject. A tell-tale sign that you're using passive voice is any "to be" verb followed by another verb. For example:

The treasure was found in the drained quarry by construction crews. (Passive Voice)

Construction crews found the treasure in the drained quarry. (Active Voice)

Spelling Hotspots

1. Homophones

Be alert for homophones (examples: loose and lose, rein and reign, brake and break, there and their) when you're editing. If you're unsure about a word's spelling, always look it up in the dictionary-especially if you know it has a homophonic counterpart.

2. Names of scholars, historical figures, battles, etc.

Always double-check names and other proper nouns, especially if they're unusual. Sometimes names have variant spellings; be sure you use one consistently.

3. Spell checkers

Never click "change everything" on your spell checker. If you use it, examine each change it makes. Spell checkers make mistakes, especially with names and technical terms.

Citation Hotspots

1. Consistent style

Be sure you pick one citation style and stick with it. Typically, you'll use either MLA (English and humanities), APA (social sciences and psychology), or Chicago (history). You'll use this one citation style for everything: your in-text citations, works cited page (also sometimes called references), and bibliography (usually optional). Pay special attention to the punctuation each style uses: whether and where they require commas, semicolons, colons, or periods.

If you're confused, you can go to http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/ or http://www.easybib.com/. These Web sites will help guide you in creating citations.

2. Citing in-text

Most plagiarism occurs by accident. By liberally citing your sources in-text and being an alert proofreader, you can avoid this scary problem. Follow these four guidelines to ensure a plagiarism-free paper:

* When using a direct quote, use quotation marks and an in-text citation.

* When paraphrasing, make sure your paraphrase is sufficiently different from its source, and you have an in-text citation. Even if you properly cite it, if your paraphrase is too similar to the source, it's plagiarism.

* Even when using another author's idea, credit the author and use an in-text citation.

* If you're unsure whether you should cite something, cite it.

3. Works cited/references page and bibliography

Go through your in-text citations and check that they all appear on the works cited or references page. If your professor requires a bibliography (most don't), you must list all the sources you've looked at, even those that you didn't use in your final paper.

Content Hotspots

1. Your thesis

Your thesis is the paper. Everything you write in your paper should work toward supporting it. Make sure each point in your paper contributes to your thesis, and you don't stray off message.

2. Support

You should also ensure that you thoroughly support each claim you make. Wayne Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams wrote an excellent book called The Craft of Research, which delineates the major steps of supporting a claim. They recommend that your claim be supported by reasons and subreasons (the logic of your claim), and each of these reasons should be supported by evidence (facts and authoritative statements). Basically, check that each of your reasons is supported by evidence.

3. Organization

Now evaluate your paper as a whole. Does everything flow? Don't be afraid to move paragraphs around if you feel as though a change would provide a more natural transition between paragraphs. Ensure that for each reason you have a topic sentence as well as an explanation of how it relates to your thesis.

You should also make sure that you don't repeat yourself. Sometimes repetition is unavoidable. But if you notice certain areas in your paper that are almost identical, consider editing it by either deleting the repetition or merging the similar elements.

Conclusion

While this article is long, it is by no means exhaustive. If you're still having trouble (especially with content or citation hotspots), go to your college's writing center or meet with your professor. Good luck with your pursuits!

Sources

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research, 3^rd Edition. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2008.

Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, 4^th Edition. Needham Heights, Mass.: Longman Publishers, 2000.