Fretting over your essay?

[technoflutemom]

Of course it depends on the school and department, but when I was applying to grad school, I had no idea what to write on and worried over it non stop. Came to find out after I was in the program that the committee pretty much just wants to see if you can write grammatically and hold to a topic.

So proofread, proofread, proofread! Then get someone else to proofread for you. At least in that school, the mechanics were more important than the topic.

[LyricB]

Those are good points. So many times I will make spelling and other errors and not realize it, so proofreading is awfully important.

[tater03]

I always have more than one person look over any of my essays. I figure it's better to have more than one person help find any mistakes that may have been made.

[LyricB]

I posted in another thread that my husband ought to get some sort of honorary degree when I get mine because the poor guy has had to read all my papers.

[ladygirl99]

What would I do is that I would read out loud on the essays that I wrote because sometimes that helps more than just scanning your eyes only for errors.

I recently heard another trick is to read your essay or writings backwards because you can able to detect grammerical errors much easier. I never try that yet but I will the next time that I have an essay.

[tater03]

Wow I never hear to read it backwards. Might work but it would take me forever to read an essay backwards. Thanks for the suggestion.

[kelkat]

Reading backwards works more for spelling. When you are reading something you wrote, your mind will read what you wanted to write not necessarily what you actually wrote. Reading backwards forces you to look at each word individually.

[LyricB]

kelkat, you're totally right. I will mean to write something then write something else, but then when I proofread it I read it how I wanted to write it. Then my husband reads it and points out the error.

[kelkat]

I had to learn some little tricks of the trade to KEEP my husband from pointing out my mistakes. There's nothing worse then to think you've done something wonderful only to have someone find great flaws in your master piece. I like to take care of as much as I can before I fall to my back up.