A common question students ask about academic writing is: whether editing and proofreading are necessary?

Many students tasked with writing an assignment often ask, how do I ensure that my work, be it an essay, a research paper etc, fulfills its intended purpose. My answer is always the same, ensure that your work is edited and proofread. A critical part of the writing process is for students to ensure that their writing assignments conform to writing guidelines. Students in high schools and colleges are required to write essays that adhere to the narrative, expository, persuasive and/or argumentative genre. Students applying to colleges are tasked with writing essays delineating statement of purpose (SOP) for college admission.  In addition, writing academic research papers, theses and dissertations are important at the college level.  It is therefore imperative that before academic work is submitted for a grade or as part of a college application or for feedback from lecturers, advisors or supervisors, these documents must be carefully edited and proofread.

There are many aspects to the editorial process. Whether a student is required to write the traditional five – paragraph essay or a longer research paper, all essays need to fulfill the purpose or goal of the assignment. This entails writing a clear thesis in the introduction, that delineates the purpose of the writing.   The writer develops his/her thesis in the paragraphs that follow the introduction. These paragraphs contain the content or support for the thesis and each paragraph usually has a topic sentence or main point derived from the thesis.  The paragraphs are well organized with clear argument and analysis that help to provide coherence and fulfill the purpose of the writing.  Another aspect of the editorial process involves rephrasing of language, the use of varying sentence patterns, as needed to improve the flow, style voice, and readability of the paper. This is where the services of a professional editor may be necessary. The editor will ensure transitions to link ideas. For college writing, research skills need to be in evidence. This involves the use of in-text citations and correct referencing of sources used. Research papers follow a format or style guide. The most popular of these are the Modern Language Association (MLA), The American Psychological Association (APA), the Chicago and the Turabian formats.

Once it is ascertained that the paper fulfills its intended purpose, and audience, it is important that it meets the requirements for grammar, style, and mechanics. All academic papers need a minimum amount of proofreading that involves correcting spelling, grammar such as subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and reading for style. Many students overseas and also in the United States are speakers of English as a Second Language. These students need to give special attention to the mechanics of language: spelling, punctuation, grammar, tense, and vocabulary. Others may need to focus their attention on rhythm and language flow. In addition, it should be noted that proofreading an American English essay is different from proofreading a British English essay given that the spelling, punctuation and word choice may differ.

Based on the above, we see that spelling errors, punctuation, omissions, faulty formatting can ruin academic writing and ruin the message. Having your writing edited will help you the writer to state your purpose clearly, to streamline your content and to assert your tone and voice.  This is critical to helping distinguish your writing from that of your peers.

If you want to ensure that you submit written work of the highest standard, free from poor language and formatting errors, contact us and let our team of professional editors and proofreaders perfect it.