During the editing phase of writing, a personal editing/proofreading checklist should contain:

Self-Editing Strategies

We suggest the following tips to help you edit and proofread your work:

1. Search for the occurrence of similar errors.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What problems appear repeatedly in my writing?
• What generalizations can I draw about my writing from these errors?
• Do my ideas frequently appear disorganized in the text?
• Do my paragraphs lack a topic sentence?
• Do I tend to repeat the same idea throughout the text, unnecessarily?
• Do I always write the same kind of sentence structure, e.g., subject-verb-object?
• Multilingual students: in what grammar areas do I make most of my errors? E.g., are my errors related to the use of prepositions, verb tenses, articles, connectors, etc.?

2. Build up a personalized editing checklist.

Once you’ve identified your patterns of errors, then you should create a checklist for yourself. The next time you edit a paper, you may want to focus exclusively on those errors, or pay more attention to them, and perhaps tackle them first.

3. Make time for the editing phase.

Remember writing is not over when you have finished your first draft, but after you have revised and edited it. Setting aside time for editing is essential for all of your writing, including in-class exams.

4. Work on a hard copy.

This creates some distance between you and the final product and allows you to manipulate the paper copy in a more controlled way (you can go back or move forward to previous portions of the text as many times as you want). It also allows you to take down notes directly on the text in an easy way.

5. Make focused passes through a text to look at a specific issue.

For example, search the text for errors in subject/verb agreement (-s missing from a 3rd person singular verb). Don’t try to look at everything at the same time, because you will miss a lot!

Self-editing looks impossible when you think of it in general. However, when you break down the task in pieces and prioritize types of errors, then self-editing becomes more manageable. If you have difficulties with the use of prepositions, but do not have much problem with verb tenses, then, focus on prepositions exclusively. One or two errors in verbs in your paper will not be as problematic as multiple errors in preposition usage. Then use the same procedure with different editing categories, one pass through for each one.

6. Ask somebody to read your paper aloud to you.

Listening to another voice creates distance from your own writing and allows you to move from the position of the writer to the position of the listener/reader. If this is not possible, then just read the paper aloud to yourself: listening to your own voice gives you some distance from the text itself. You may even record yourself while reading your text: listening to a voice, even when it is yours, creates some distance from your own work.

7. Ask a friend (maybe another student from your class?) to proofread your paper.

However, avoid asking your friend to correct it (if this is the case, you’ll never learn how to proofread!). Just ask your reader to mark the potential problems in your paper, and then discuss those problems with him/her.

8. When proofreading, read the paper from back to front.

Breaking the flow of ideas sometimes helps to focus on language issues rather than on the content itself.

9. Use the dictionary (a lexicon or a thesaurus) in order to make an accurate and varied choice of words.

This way you will have access not only to meanings but also to synonyms, antonyms, shades of meaning, etc. A dictionary is a useful tool both for multilingual students and native speakers.

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This resource covers process and strategy, not correctness rules. For help there, see our many resources on grammar,  mechanics, and punctuation.

There are multiple levels of editing, and terminology surrounding editing is often used interchangeably and fluidly. These levels have some overlap between each other, rather than being totally discrete stages; similarly, developmental and substantive editing are more closely related to the "revision" step of the writing process. The four editing levels are:

• Developmental editing: looking at the overall development of the piece, for instance looking for organizational patterns, missing information, inaccurate information, or anything that might confuse a reader
• Substantive editing: making changes to ensure sections (all the way down to paragraphs and sentences) flow logically from one to the next, ensure each paragraph's topic sentence is present and accurate, adding new necessary material to make connections between ideas, removing unnecessary material
• Copyediting: addressing sentence level issues such as style inconsistencies, subject-verb agreement, confusing or wordy phrasing, missing words, missing or inaccurate citations, and any other mechanical or grammatical issues that may be present
• Proofreading: usually the "last pass" before submission or publication; ensuring everything is correct and no lingering errors such as typos, missing words, missing punctuation, etc. remain.

In general, writers should follow this list down in order when revising and editing, from higher order to lower order concerns (in other words, from bigger or more impactful issues to smaller and less impactful issues).

While many writers edit alone at some point during the process, many writers also edit with a partner or writing group. Working with others is strongly recommended when editing; typically, this stage of the writing process comes last or close to last, meaning that writers are more likely to overlook mistakes or potential opportunities (because they have been working on the text for so long). It can be hard for writers to imagine other possibilities beyond what they have already written. A partner or group brings fresh perspective and a real audience who can offer feedback and tell the writer more about what it's like to read their writing. 

If you're intrigued by the idea of a writing group but not sure where to start, you might check out these resources: 

• OWL Vidcast: Writing Groups & How to Form Them
• Writing Groups Toolkit from University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Editing Before Submission

When you're ready to edit, it's important to start with higher order concerns and move down to lower order concerns (as stated above). For higher order concerns, see the editing and revision tips on our Organization and Structure page. For lower order concerns (and sometimes higher order concerns — you might realize something about organization while reading carefully for sentence level issues!), here's a list of strategies that our tutors recommend in sessions with graduate writers. They're usually adaptable to different preferences you might have about working digitally vs. on paper, or working alone vs. with a partner or group. Be creative to find what works for you!

• Read aloud. You can do this yourself, get your computer to read your text out, or ask a friend. Hearing your writing read aloud can help identify places where sentences are confusing or difficult to read, highlight missing words, and create some distance between you and your writing so you can more easily evaluate it.
• Color code. You might do this by highlighting or changing font colors on your screen, using markers on paper, or even without color using font styles and sizes. This technique is useful for various applications, including identifying parts of sentences, identifying particular words or phrases you repeat often, or categorizing sentences by idea to check organization.
• Pick individual issues. When you read through with your focus on only one thing, like correcting comma errors or looking for all the places you write "the ways in which," you're less likely to miss instances of that error by getting distracted with other issues.
• Use checklists. Venues such as journals and conferences often have checklists for authors to use when preparing manuscripts; if you don't have a checklist from a professor, you can sometimes use these checklists to help guide your editing for writing for courses as well. You can also keep a checklist of known issues that your writing partners, professors, tutors, or mentors have mentioned on previous writing assignments to help you look for things you know you do (for instance, one former tutor always put her topic sentences at the ends of paragraphs — she keeps this item in a revision and editing checklist and it's one of the first things she addresses when she edits).

Editing with Feedback

Often, graduate students will be writing or editing with some type of feedback. This could be from peers in a class, from an instructor or mentor, or from a peer reviewer at a conference or journal. If you're in this situation, please see our resources on writing with feedback for more strategies and tips.

What should you do during the editing stage of the writing process?

What is an editing checklist?

What are the 5 steps of writing process?

During which step of the writing process should a document be proofread?