Editing & Proofreading - A Step-By-Step Guide To Edit Your Essay

While editing and proofreading your essays is compulsory, most of us have no idea how - just randomly editing your essay can cause more damage to your essay than you can envision at the moment. Just like most things in this world, editing and proofreading can also be done right if you follow an adequate process. 

And trust us, even though at the moment it might feel like a lot of work, if you follow the right steps, then editing or proofreading will not cost you a whole lot of time. And this is precisely why we are here - today, we will tell you how you can edit and proofread your essay accurately by just following a few simple steps. 

Stay tuned to find out more. 

Editing & Proofreading - A Step-By-Step Guide To Edit Your Essay

Both editing and proofreading an essay can be done in an organized way, but most of us are not aware of any particular process for editing or even proofreading our essays. Of course, if it’s possible for you to seek the help of a good essay writing service like Ivory Research, then you can totally depend upon them for editing and proofreading your essays accurately. 

But if you do plan on writing your essay on your own, you can definitely follow a detailed step-by-step process to sound more effective in your essay. And we are here to tell you about the process. So without wasting any time, scroll down to find out how you can edit and proofread your essay in the most efficient and effective way. 

1. Go Through Your Main Ideas

When you start editing for the first time, don’t worry about minimal issues such as word repetition or comma placement. Instead, focus on whether or not you have expressed your primary accurately through your phrasing and organization. Your essay is an official document written for communicating a specific message. 

Perhaps the most vital aspect of any essay is to determine whether you have managed to communicate all your primary ideas - since without communicating your ideas, your essays become useless. At this stage, you can also consider adjusting your main thesis statement - find out if your sentences flow smoothly. 

Find out whether your conclusion is a little more than a synopsis and whether your paragraphs are placed in an accurate sequence for conveying your message. We often struggle with our essay introductions since these are difficult to pen down and quite complex to edit. Make sure that all the information you are presenting to your audience is seamless without any random jumps. 

2. Work On Your Actual Content

At this juncture, you can definitely check out the primary meat of what you are trying to write: your primary phrases, quotations, examples, and topic sentences. There are multiple times when we have to look back at our past work and find out better examples, topic sentences, quotations, and phrases. 

It is vital that you avoid settling down for the bare minimum just because you are lazy, simply because you have included something in your work already.

It is fine if it takes some more time because you had to replace your existing content, cut down on a few things, and sometimes even add new details. 

While writing your essay, it is normal to cut down on existing information while adding new details. Taking this step is often considered to be a fairly easy task since writers are always in the habit of observing and recording several examples, ideas, and even quotes for their essays. Sometimes, it could be as simple as copy-pasting information and making your essay look better. 

3. Check Your Phrasing

You have to read through your sentences and find out if it actually flows well. The sequence or order of words should definitely sound natural with whatsoever no random syntax awkwardly placed. Additionally, work on not overusing your Thesaurus and inserting the most complicated words and phrases - keep it simple. 

It is your responsibility to do your very best. In fact, there is absolutely no need to show off your high knowledge of vocabulary or even try to drown in a sea of meanings. You can easily spot these mistakes only if you are able to read your essay out loud. And not just once but multiple times. 

The purpose of your essay is to convey what you are trying to say - not use too many difficult words and kill the whole essence of the essay in the process. So definitely keep track of your phrasing, and definitely keep your approach simple and relatable. 

4. Be A Grammar, Spelling, And Punctuation Technician

Once you are done following the steps mentioned above, it’s time to proofread your essay. Check your tenses, conjunctions, nouns, pronouns, verbs, interjections, prepositions, and articles. Find out if the words you have used in the essay make any grammatical sense. When you are doing this, ensure that you are reading slowly so that you can take in every word. 

Punctuation can definitely either make or just break a sentence. Every punctuation mark comes with a particular meaning as well as a mood. When you end up putting a semicolon in place of a comma, for instance, your readers will get distracted from your actual message. Your readers might even end up confused, wondering what you are attempting to say. 

You have to ensure that you are keeping track of your punctuation while considering the accuracy of the same. At the same time, there are so many people who have this habit of not using punctuation. Plus, go through your work, checking if you have missed out on any basic punctuation - then fix these errors!

Editing And Proofreading Your Essay: The Mistakes You Cannot Ignore! 

Editing and proofreading your essay takes time, but that does not mean you will entirely skip the process or just not do it accurately. There will be mistakes, and you need to correct these before you submit your essay. 

Tell us what your thoughts are on editing and proofreading your essay - and while sharing your thoughts, feel free to let us know about your prior experiences in the comments below.