Download 1 - Northern Highlands

PROOFREADING AND REVISING- English 9
Formal Thesis Essays
REVISING
1) Do you have 2-3 GENERAL sentences to start? (Life, Literature, the
World, History, People)
2) Do you have 2-3 sentences about the book(s)? Is the book
underlined/put in italics if typed? Do you mention the author?
3) THESIS- Is it specific
Does it tell you EXACTLY what the paper is going to be about?
___________________________________________________________
4) Read 1st body paragraphDoes it make sense?
Does it support the thesis?
Be able to point to where you do this. Plot does not count!
Does it consist of 6+ sentences?
5) Read 2nd body paragraphDo you have a transitional phrase between body #1 and body #2?
Does it make sense?
Does it support the thesis?
Be able to point to where you do this. Plot does not count!
Does it consist of 6+ sentences?
6) Read 3rd body paragraphDo you have a transitional phrase between body #2 and body #3?
Does it make sense?
Does it support the thesis?
Be able to point to where you do this. Plot does not count!
Does it consist of 6+ sentences?
____________________________________________________________
7) Do you restate the thesis?
8) Do you summarize/recap what you wrote about?
9) Do you end with 2-3 GENERAL sentences? (Life, Literature, the
World, History, People)
PROOFREADING
The proofreading process- The proofreading process becomes more efficient as you develop and
practice a systematic strategy.

Don't rely entirely on spelling checkers or grammar checkers, but you should hit the spell
check and grammar check buttons.

Proofread for only one kind of error at a time. If you try to identify and revise too many things
at once, you risk losing focus, and your proofreading will be less effective. This means
rereading your paper 3-4 times!

Read slow, and read every word. If you are an auditory learner, read it out loud.

Separate the text into individual sentences. Hit ENTER on the computer and read each line.
(run-ons, fragments)

Circle every punctuation mark. This forces you to look at each one. As you circle, ask yourself
if the punctuation is correct. Focus on your commas.

Read the paper backwards line by line. This technique is helpful because you are looking at
structure and not the meaning.
PROOFREADING- Specifics
1) Subject/Verb Agreement
Check your subjects, underline them, and mentally note remove prepositional phrases (phrases
starting with “of” often signal prepositional phrases). Then draw an arrow to your verbs. Do
this step with all sentences.
2) BOX ALL of your pronouns
Remove all pronouns that are not in the 3rd person
Remember: the words everybody, anybody, anyone, each, neither, nobody, someone, a
person, etc. are singular and take singular pronouns.
1st person
I, me
we, us
2nd person
you, your
3rd person
he, she, him, her, it
they, them, their
3) AVOID VERB TENSE SHIFT
Use the same tense in your paper.
When discussing literature, use the present tense.
*When talking about the author, speak in the past tense.
4) CIRCLE ALL Commas/Semi-Colons/Colons
Use commas between compound sentences and with introductory phrases
Use commas around prepositional phrases
Semi-Colon- connects two independent clauses
5) WORD CHOICE
Look to have variety (don’t be repetitive) and to improve your vocabulary (avoid simple
words such as “good,” “bad,” “thing,” “mad,” “small,” basically,” )
6) Put an X through all CONTRACTIONS and all ABBREVIATIONS and
then fix
(ex: TV is television, ok is okay)
7) PUT TWO LINES UNDER your verbs to look for Parallel Structure
Do not mix forms.
Example 1
Not Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.
Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.
8) HIGHLIGHT ALL FORMS OF THE VERB “TO BE”
Passive vs. Active Voice (Remember the paragraph “The beach”)
Look at the verbs you underlined in the above step. Now look for all the “to be” verbs.
Eliminate passive voice.
(is, are, am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have
been, being)