Proofreading Once you have written/typed out your good copy, the temptation will be to breathe a huge sigh of relief and put the essay in a safe place until it's time to take it to class... but you haven't finished yet!! You must proofread your paper again.. Why? One word: typos. You must reread your paper and find any extra errors that have crept in, and maybe some old ones you didn't find earlier in the process. It's good to remember that when your professor is reading your paper, an error is an error - it doesn't matter when it occurred. Now is the time to ensure that your paper is truly error-free. (Go to Proofreading if you need extra proofreading advice.) Corrections One reason a lot of people don't like proofreading finished papers is that if they find errors... they will have to fix them! This doesn't necessarily indicate laziness - it's more a horror of having now to blemish a perfect, clean, lovely looking paper. You really do need to make the corrections though. How you do this may depend on your teacher. Some teachers will not accept papers with written on corrections but others will. Check with your teacher if you don't know their policy. If you have typed up your paper on a computer, now you have an advantage - you can go back into your essay file, make the corrections, and print out a beautiful, error-free copy. If there are only one or two corrections to make or if there is too little time to print out a new copy (i.e., if you're proofreading in class just before you turn the paper in...), simply cross out the error neatly and write the correction above the cross out very neatly. Place a small arrow before the correction to indicate to the reader to go up to the corrected word. The main thing to remember when correcting is that you want the paper to be as readable as possible. If your corrections are interrupting the flow of the words, it is time to write the paper over.