CAW LibGuides: Tips for Polishing and Proofreading

This resource will:

• Explain what polishing and proofreading are
• Provide general tips for both processes
• Give specific tips for polishing
• Give specific tips for proofreading
• Provide exercises to test your learning

What are polishing and proofreading?

Polishing and proofreading are the final stages of the writing process. They take place after any bigger-picture revisions, including structural and content changes.

Polishing focuses on editing for consistent academic style and ease of reading. These edits include those for:

• Clarity
• Formality
• Cohesion (i.e. flow)

In contrast, proofreading concentrates on removing errors; for example, those in:

• Spelling
• Grammar

How to polish and proofread

It can be difficult to polish and proofread immediately after writing. A fresh pair of eyes can help with the process.

To see your writing more clearly, try the following strategies:

• Take at least a day away from your writing
• Read out loud or use a text reader
• Ask a friend to read out loud and listen for moments when they falter
• Temporarily change the font style or size of your text
• Print your assignment, perhaps on coloured paper
• Read sentences one at a time, working backwards from the end
• Ask a friend or family member to point out sentences that are harder to read

Note: According to university policy, if anyone reads your writing, they must not make edits on your behalf. They can only make suggestions or point out errors.

Polishing and proofreading can also benefit from:

• Splitting the task into manageable chunks
• Resting regularly
• Focusing on one type of problem at a time

Top tip: Add to a list of your common errors each time you edit an assignment. This list will help you spot these issues in the future.

Clarity

Clarity, formality and cohesion are important in academic style. Sometimes the inherent complexity of academic ideas can lead to unclear or confusing sentences. To avoid unnecessarily complex sentences:

Limit sentence length

Avoid overly long sentences. They can often be confusing. In many cases, aiming for a maximum of 30 words is a good strategy. However, you may occasionally need a longer sentence.

If you have a long sentence, you may want to:

• Split it into two or more shorter sentences.
• Edit it to make it more concise.

Top tip: Even when your sentences are a sensible length, making a sentence more concise can often make its meaning clearer.

Clarify who/what you are referring to

Being clear about who or what you are referring to can help avoid unnecessary confusion. To do so, review your use of pronouns (e.g. ‘it’, ‘this’, ‘they’, ‘he’, ‘she’, etc.).

Focus particularly on pronouns at the start of sentences. Consider whether their meaning is clear. Substitute unclear pronouns with a specific noun or phrase.

For example:

They were dissatisfied.       à        The participants were dissatisfied.

This is important.                à       This proposal is important.

Avoid cluttering the middle of sentences

When writing about complex ideas, it can be tempting to add additional information in the middle of a sentence to provide explanation or context. However, this can create sentences that are difficult to read.

In these examples, edits have been made to improve readability. In the first example, the information in the middle of the sentence has been moved into a separate sentence. In the second example, it has been moved to the start of the original sentence.

 

Original sentence		Rewritten
The study, which makes use of a qualitative approach, considers the impact of Facebook usage on pre-teens.	à	The study considers the impact of Facebook usage on pre-teens. To do so, it takes a qualitative approach.
Learning styles, despite little evidence for their usefulness in teaching, remain in the public consciousness.	à	Despite there being little evidence for their usefulness in teaching, learning styles remain in the public consciousness.

Top tip: Consider whether you need the information in the middle of the sentence. If you are over explaining, you can delete the extra information.

Limit the number of coordinating conjunctions

Avoid using lots of coordinating conjunctions (e.g. ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, ‘so’).

These words create connections within a sentence. Therefore, the more you have, the more complex and potentially confusing the sentence becomes.

If you have multiple coordinating conjunctions in a sentence, consider the following:

• • Does the sentence need breaking into two or more sentences?
  • Do you need all the information/ideas in the sentence?
  • Can you rephrase or summarise?

Top tip: If, after editing, you still have multiple coordinating conjunctions in a sentence, carefully punctuate to ensure the sentence is clear.

Edit lists for a parallel structure

Poorly constructed and muddled lists can be difficult to read.

Ensure that every item in your list is constructed as similarly as possible. In other words, each item should closely parallel the others. Therefore, each items should:

• Begin with same type of word (e.g. verb, noun, etc.)
• Use the same tense (e.g. past tense, present tense, etc.)

For example:

Original sentence		Rewritten
It is recommended that the nurse prescriber do the following: complete an assessment; the discussion of possible treatments; and prescribing of appropriate medication.	à	It is recommended that the nurse prescriber do the following: complete an assessment; discuss possible treatments; and prescribe appropriate medication.

Top tip: Wherever possible, keep the items in your list concise. Shorter items are easier to read. 

Formality

Academic writing is a formal type of writing. However, even when writing formally, it is easy to slip into informal writing without realising.

To ensure your writing is formal:

Edit contractions

Contractions are used in conversational communication. Therefore, swap any contractions for their more formal full form. For example:

he’s     à   he is

aren’t   à   are not

we’d    à   we would

Edit non-specific words

Vague words can sound informal in comparison to more specific alternatives. Specificity is also an important part of academic thinking.

Below are some common non-specific words and some potential alternatives. The most appropriate alternative word will depend on the context.

thing       à     factor, component, artefact, etc.

says       à     argues, suggests, admits, etc.

did          à     undertook, attempted, implemented, etc.

good       à     appropriate, effective, efficient, etc.

bad         à     inadequate, unsatisfactory, poor quality, etc.

recently  à     since 2010, in the past decade, etc.

Top tip: Where you use a technical word for the first time in your writing, you often need to define it. This shows your marker you have understood the word, and helps ensure your writing is clear.

Avoid addressing the reader

Addressing the reader directly is often too conversational for academic writing. To avoid this, remove uses of the second person (e.g. ‘you’, ‘your’).

For example:

Original sentence		Rewritten
You will often find that studying is easier if you plan ahead.	à	Students often find studying to be easier when they plan ahead.

Edit phrasal verbs

When a verb consists of more than one word, it often sounds informal. These kinds of verbs are called phrasal verbs.

Swap phrasal verbs for an alternative single-word verbs, unless the phrasal verb is formal.

For example:

find out                  à        learn, discover

check out              à        examine, investigate

come up with        à        devise, invent

went up                 à        increased, rose

back up                 à        support, evidence

Cohesion (i.e. flow)

Academic writing usually engages with complex ideas. Therefore, effective flow is needed to help your reader to follow your line of thinking.

To ensure your writing flows well:

Use transitional words and phrases

If the connection between two sentences or paragraphs is unclear, try adding a transitional word or phrase.

These include words and phrases like:

• However
• Therefore
• In addition
• For example
• Firstly
• Secondly
• In contrast
• Consequently
• Subsequently
• Similarly

Move from old to new information

Try starting your sentence with an explicit connection to the previous sentence. This helps the reader to follow the progression of your ideas.

For example:

Example 1.

The problematic policy has been in place since the company’s founding and has never been revised. The policy is…

Example 2.

In recent years, many researchers have taken a more quantitative approach to this question. These studies have identified…

With this kind of organisation, there is often no need for a transitional word or phrase to make the connection clear.

Grammar

Good grammar and spelling not only make your writing appear professional, but also ensure your writing is clear. There are a number of common grammar errors that can affect readability.

In this resource, there isn’t room to explain grammar rules in detail. However, there are useful resources in the reference list that you can use to explore these further.

In your writing, watch out for:

Sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is a structurally incomplete sentence. This may take one of several forms:

• A missing verb

e.g. A study with a large sample.

• A missing subject (i.e. someone/something doing the verb)

e.g. Analysed the results.

• An incomplete thought (i.e. a dependent clause)

e.g. Which answered the question.

Top tip: One way to check for sentence fragments is to read your sentences, one by one, out loud in reverse order. If a sentence cannot function without the prior sentence being read beforehand, then it is likely a sentence fragment.

Comma splices

Comma splices occur where two (or more) complete sentences are glued (or ‘spliced’) together with a comma.

In the following example, the words on either side of the comma include a subject (in orange) and a verb (in green), and can be read independently from each other. This means that this sentence is in fact two complete sentences that should not be joined using a comma.

Businesses require strong marketing plans, CEOs must prioritise this.

A comma splice can be fixed in a number of ways:

• Replace the comma with a full stop

e.g. Businesses require strong marketing plans. CEOs must prioritise this.

• Replace the comma with a semi-colon

e.g. Businesses require strong marketing plans; CEOs must prioritise this.

• Add a conjunction after the comma, e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’

e.g. Businesses require strong marketing plans, and CEOs must prioritise this.

Wrong or inconsistent tense

Check that your choice of tense is appropriate and that you are consistent.

For example:

• Use present tense when writing about your own assignment.

e.g. “This essay argues…”

• Use present tense if you are writing about the claims made by a source.

e.g. “Jones et al. (2023) suggests that…”

• Use past tense when writing about your method.

e.g. “The participants completed a survey...”

Top tip: Read published research writing to identify the appropriate tenses.

Use of articles

There are two types of article that can be used to precede a noun:

Indefinite articles:     a, an

The definite article:   the

Check for missing articles, unnecessary articles and wrong use of articles.

Subject-verb agreement

When your subject is singular, your verb needs to be singular. When your subject is plural, your verb needs to be in a plural form.

For example:

Original sentence		Rewritten
Researchers focuses on the most important topics.	à	Researchers focus on the most important topics.
Lee argue against this position.	à	Lee argues against this position.

 

Spelling

Even though spell checkers are generally effective, they may not pick up all your spelling mistakes. Look out for the following:

Homophones

Homophones sound the same or very similar to another word but are spelled differently. Spell checks don’t see homophones as spelled incorrectly.

Some common examples:

• Accept, except
• Affect, effect
• Complimentary, complementary,
• Here, hear
• Its, it’s
• Right, write, rite
• They’re, their, there
• Two, to, too
• Your, you’re

Mistyped words

Watch out for commonly mistyped words that aren’t spotted by a spell checker.

Some common examples:

• an, and
• from, form
• out, our
• the, he
• where, were

Try the Polishing and Proofreading excercises in Appendix One of the pdf download resource.

George Mason University. (2023). The Three Common Tenses Used in Academic Writing. The Writing Center. https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources/grammar-style/the-three-common-tenses-used-in-academic-writing

Purdue University. (2022). Using Articles. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/using_articles.html

University of Plymouth. (2019). Academic writing style. https://www.port.ac.uk/student-life/help-and-advice/study-skills/written-assignments/academic-writing-style

University of Wisconsin – Madison. (2023). Twelve Common Errors. The Writing Center. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/grammarpunct/commonerrors/

CAW offers writing development workshops across all genres of academic writing, including Proof-reading: Strategies too to improve the quality of your writing workshop.

To view available workshops and book online, visit: https://libcal.coventry.ac.uk/calendar/caw

To book a one-to-one tutorial with the Centre for Academic Writing, visit: https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/cawlibcalhome