Tips for Proofreading
On this page:
- What is proofreading?
- Why is proofreading important?
- How do you proofread?
- Proofreading checklist and resources
- Proofreading FAQs
Proofreading your work is an important part of the academic process. Students who make time to proofread their work before submission will receive higher grades because they will be able to correct simple errors and mistakes that would otherwise get missed in the rush to submit work.
What, why and how?
What is proofreading?
Proofreading is the careful examination of your work before you hand it in. This means checking the content, style, clarity, grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Why is proofreading important?
By spending time proofreading your work, you will improve the quality of your written work by identifying errors. It is also important that you use this time to check for clarity, to ensure that you work flows and is understandable to the marker.
How do you proofread?
Every student will have a different approach to proofreading their work. Your own techniques will develop over time, but these points below can be a starting point:
- Plan in time for proofreading
- Remove distractions (turn your phone over!)
- Read your work more than once
- Take breaks
Proofreading FAQs
Who is allowed to proofread my work?
You are predominately responsible for proofreading your work. You should aim to proofread your work at least three times before you submit. However, it can be helpful for someone else to proofread your work because they might spot things you have not noticed. You can ask a family member or a friend to check your work for you. It is a good idea to let the person know what you would like them to check for.
Can I pay someone to proofread my work?
If you follow all the guidance available to you on these support pages, through your module handbooks and assignment briefs, you should never need to pay someone to proofread your work. Often, paid services will use artificial intelligence to check your work, which may result in them making changes to your work that include inaccurate information or incorrect grammar.
What can a proofreader help me with?
• Spelling and grammar errors
• Typographical errors
• Language errors – for example, if English is not your first language it is a good idea to ask someone to check your sentence structure and correct use of the tenses you have used
• Referencing errors
• General corrections – for example, correcting grammatical errors that help your marker to clearly understand your work.
What should a proofreader not help me with?
A proofreader can not change the academic content of your work, which would impact (either positively or negatively) the overall quality of the work. Your proofreader should not:
• Change the content of your work by adding in sources
• Change any calculations, figures, facts or data
• Translate your work into English from another language
• Check your work for plagiarism
• Change any of your academic discussion or evaluations
Further support
While learning skills do not offer a proofreading service, we can review sections of your work for you to offer feedback on something specific. For example, you might ask us to check your reference list or in-text citations for you. On the other hand, you might ask us to check a paragraph for structure or to see if you have developed a critical argument clearly.
If you would like further support with proofreading, please email us at Learning Skills (learningskills@wrexham.ac.uk).
Useful resource
Proofreading Checklist
Click on the above image to access our handy proofreading checklist.
Useful resource
Follow the below link to take you to a proofreading activity by the Open University:
