When it comes to essay writing, there are no quick fixes. It is a time-consuming process and requires your undivided attention and dedication. However, we help you step by step and break down the entire essay writing process into small manageable pieces with our hacks. This gives you an easy time fixing each problem in your essay.
Why is it Important?
Editing your essays before a submission is very important. It helps you to avoid grammar and punctuation mistakes. These mistakes are the most common turnoffs for your readers. Furthermore, it improves the quality and flow of your essay by making it more coherent and understandable.
The editing process is hectic and time-consuming. However, it can be easy with the proper tools nearby.
Your whole cycle involves checking out for:
Grammar and correct punctuation
Consistency of tone
Sentence variety
Sentence coherence
Moreover, it is advisable to always turn to other editing tools such as spellcheckers to ease the task. Lastly, remember a proofread essay is the final requirement before submission.
Essay Hacks for Editing
Editing any essay is always a challenge. However, this task remains essential even after writing down your first draft. Standard errors are common to appear with the first draft. Also, other secondary errors will occur when editing.
The admissions committee will not take your application seriously when your application is full of such mistakes. Besides, they may influence how they perceive your personality and create a wrong impression of you.
These tips help write an excellent essay that catches the admissions committee’s attention and makes them choose you.
Know the Essay Requirements
Every college is different. Therefore, each personal statement should be different. Many students try following a universal essay template, but admissions departments will notice.
Do some research on the program's website and speak directly with admissions officers when not sure about specific requirements or details. Colleges are often vague about this information because they want to see how students handle ambiguous situations. However, take the time to ask for more details.
Reconsider the Bigger Picture
What do you hope your essay achieves? The same applies to writing an essay. It is by far one of the most critical parts of your application because it tells them who you are and whom you hope to become.
Go over your work, reread it and keep editing until you feel that it represents you at your very best. Do not be afraid to set aside time for days, weeks, or even months. No matter how long it takes. Your goal is to submit an exceptional piece of writing that shows off your unique writing skillset.
Return to the Thesis, then Read Each Paragraph
Look at your thesis again and see whether you can find ways to make it even stronger. Is there any way to improve your main argument? Are there any areas of the paper that need more support? For example, when writing about how you overcame a significant challenge in your life, is there more than one example you could provide?
Remember that the length of your essay isn’t as important as how well your argument is supported. Don't waste space repeating yourself. Rework your thesis statement after discovering new evidence to change your position on the topic.
Read your Essay Out Loud
Reading your essay aloud helps you slow down so you can take in every word. Reading aloud also enables you to catch run-on sentences or awkward phrasing.
The only way to fix these problems is to delete them. Go through any text that doesn't fit. It might sting a little, but it is essential to keep your focus on the overall quality of your essay.
Make Changes
Set aside your completed work for some time (a week is ideal), and then come back to it with fresh eyes. It is a surprise how better it reads once you have given yourself some space from it.
It is also beneficial to ask a friend or family member to read your work and make suggestions.
Give yourself the same luxury of time away from it before making final edits when writing an essay for a scholarship or college admission.
Get Feedback
Consulting other people is an essential aspect of getting different perspectives on how to execute your essay. It is helpful to have essay editors look at your essay before submitting it. However, whom should those people be?
Strike a balance between asking someone who knows what they are talking about and someone who won't try to re-write your essay. Moreover, you can search for a professional college essay editing service.
Alternatively, find someone who knows something about writing but hasn't read your essay yet. A teacher or family friend would be a good choice. Alternatively, find a friend whose judgment and writing skills you trust to read it as well.
Read It Backwards
Reading backward works. After finishing, reading back through your essay is one way to catch errors or inconsistencies in content or flow. Moreover, reading backward has the benefit of letting you read each sentence on its own, making it easier to spot mistakes.
Reading backward also helps you slow down enough to focus on each sentence. And that can help with catching errors in:
- Structure
- Grammar
- Punctuation that might otherwise go unnoticed.
What to Consider When Essay Editing
When editing your final masterpiece, regardless of the question, there are a few simple things you should look out for first.
Spelling and Grammar Mistakes.
These are easy errors to fix. However, they can be easy to overlook when reading your writing. Reading from a hard copy comes in extra handy to check for errors. Reading on paper will make catching mistakes like extra spaces between words easier.
Structure.
The entire structure should show coherence from one paragraph to the next. You may want to add transitions between paragraphs or sentences when it feels choppy or disorganized when you read it aloud.
Tone.
The tone of an essay is the overall attitude that the writer displays towards the subject. Tone conveys a sense of attitude toward what is being discussed and can have many variations, such as severe, humorous, sarcastic, concerned, or detached.
Writing Style
A good paper should always be written using one writing style throughout. This means that once you have settled on a particular style. It should apply to every part of your paper from the title page, main body, and reference list.
Jargon
Jargon is a language that is specific to a particular subject or profession. It is essential to avoid using jargon because not everyone shares the same background or knowledge as you do. For example, when writing about a scientific concept or term that you learned in school, it is essential to take out any words or phrases that could confuse someone who doesn't have a science background.
Vague statements
Students often write vague statements because they do not want to offend anyone with their opinions and views unintentionally. However, you can also interpret these vague statements as being unsure of yourself and your views. Be sure that you stand behind your opinions and use factual statements so that the reader won't have any questions about what you're trying to say.
Clarity
Your essay should bring out the main argument. Furthermore, the following paragraphs should contain the supporting details for the argument. Don't use unclear transitions between paragraphs or points because they can confuse readers.
Fragments
A fragment represents a cluster of words that sounds like a sentence but is not. It does not have a subject, verb, or both. You may have fragments in your paper because you accidentally wrote an incomplete sentence or because you listed ideas without writing complete sentences.
What to Before Handing Over Your Essay
You may be able to write a brilliant essay. However, it will be hard for your reader to take you seriously when it's full of errors. Be sure you're submitting your best work.
Don't Go Overboard on Formatting.
Your essay shouldn't just look pretty. The essay should have a clear and consistent structure that is easy for the reader to follow. Too many formatting changes can distract and make your work much harder to read. Moreover, add in some small formatting touches, like bolding or italicizing. However, apply caution to avoid going overboard with them.
Spell-Check
The second step in self-editing is to run a spell check on the entire paper. This can help catch any glaring misspellings that you missed while reading through the text manually. Please pay attention to your computer's spelling suggestions as you go along since it may catch some types of errors that spell-check alone won't identify.
For example, word spell-check will allow words like "there," "their," and "they're," even if they are misused in context. But words will also highlight these words when misused, so take time to go through the full text.
Grammar
Go through your entire paper from start to end. Check out the sentence variety works well with the overall flow. (If this sounds overwhelming, try reading your paper backward — word by word — to catch errors.)
Take a look at sentences that have more than one verb or noun. These can get confusing, so double-check them.
Check the facts
In most cases, your teacher will be grading you on how well you have researched and presented your argument. When you get your facts wrong, it will weaken your argument considerably.
Correct spelling and punctuation
Make sure you check every line for spelling and grammatical errors before submission. It might not seem like a big deal to leave a couple of mistakes in here and there, but they add up quickly to make your work look sloppy.
References/Bibliography
This is especially important when writing an academic essay. You'll lose marks if it's not done correctly, so make sure you familiarize yourself with what referencing style is required before submitting your work.
Final Takeaway
Writing is a skill that you must learn. You cannot rush it. College students must become comfortable with the process. Editing and proofreading are two critical steps that you must master to succeed with college essay writing. The resources found within this article will help you move into the next phase of your academic career with confidence.
