Difference between essay editing and proofreading

Before it comes to turning in an essay it is important to overview it for mistakes and problems. Many essays that fail, are as a result of a student failing to check their essay before turning it in. It is important that a student understand the difference between a editing an essay and proofreading an essay. This two different editing techniques are commonly mistaken as the same, but have some very small differences. Knowing these difference can help a student edit their papers better, which will lead to better grades on papers.

Essay Editing: Helping the Essay

Editing an essay involves thoroughly going through an essay and searching for technical errors that may be present. Examples of technical errors include: run on sentences, commas in the wrong place and missing punctuation marks. These errors can affect the way that a paper reads and can possibly change the meaning of it. With essay editing you main focus is upon finding the technical parts of the essay that need to be fix. The technical parts of the paper usually go by the rules of punctuation and grammar, so if a student has any questions about it they can usually look it up.

Proofreading: Helping the Essay

Proofreading deals with more of the heart and feeling of the paper. This focuses on how a paper reads overall. Proofreading takes a look at how something is written versus looking at what is written. In other words a proofreader looks at the essay to make sure that it flows well and makes sense. Does the paper have an introduction that does its job? How does the transitional sentence help join the introduction with the body paragraph? Does the conclusion summarize and tie up any loose ends of the paper? Basically proofreading makes sure that a paper does its job and answer the question asked of it.

Both Essay editing and Proofreading both are important parts of an essay. Before turning in a paper it is important that a student do both of these things. Editing will make sure that the essay follows the rules of grammar and punctuation. Proofreading makes sure that the essay answers the question or focuses on a certain theme. After an essay has been edited and proofread it will be approved for turning in. A student can dramatically improve their essay grades by simply editing and proofreading it.