Proofreading, Rewriting, and Editing

Proofreading, Rewriting, and Editing

A good piece of original  writing doesn’t come easily or within days. Well-written prose is hard work. Maintain a consistent focus on topic in your piece. Offer enough details so that the reader is very clear what the experience, idea, or event has meant to you and what your role has been.

Rewrite and rewrite again is good exercise. Often where you first started writing the essay is not the real beginning, sometimes it’s a few sentences here down or even a paragraph down, where you started to let your thoughts really flow. Don’t be afraid to cut out the original beginning in favor of a stronger essay.

A common mistake is Spelling mistakes, bad sentence structure, and garbled points of view will stick out. Use spell-check. Refer to a reputable style guide, such as the MLA Style Manual or the Chicago Manual of Style, two very widely accepted sources.

Plagiarism

Somewhere along the way some students have gotten the idea that “borrowing” or “copying” someone else’s work, especially off the internet, is an acceptable practice. A lot of people do it, and online content is plagiarized everyday, often ending up in dozens of different places.

There is no better and quicker way to getting yourself rejected from any college application process. You will be discovered. If it has been used without permission or improperly cited, it is plagiarism.

Some colleges pay custom search companies to look for plagiarism. It is very important to not try to use plagiarism because this mistake is not avoided.