How can I proofread and edit my writing?

First, I encourage you to use this three-step proofreading method.

SPELL CHECK for careless mistakes: First, please use the free spell and grammar check programs offered by MS Word and/or Google Docs.

READ ALOUD to check your grammar and style: Next, read your essay draft aloud at full volume to catch awkward phrasings and words that you are using too frequently.

READ BACKWARDS to check your logic: After taking a short break (get away from your computer!), read your essay "backward". Start with your final sentence and work back to your first. Are you making any logical leaps? How are your transitions?

More Proofreading Strategies to Try

Skim your paper, pausing at the words "and" and "or." Check on each side of these words to see whether the items joined are parallel. If not, make them parallel.
If you have several items in a list, put them in a column to see if they are parallel.
Listen to the sound of the items in a list of the items being compared. Do you hear the same kinds of sounds? For example, is there a series of "-ing" words beginning each item? Or do you hear a rhythm being repeated? If something is breaking that rhythm or repetition of sound, check to see if it needs to be made parallel.

How To Edit Your Own Writing (Self-Editing)

Editing takes considerable patience. I list below some reasonable ideas for each edit cycle. The sequence that you execute these steps may impact the style you produce; experiment a bit to see what order works best for your writing. You will know you are done editing when you are positively sick and tired of reading your work again.

A. Dictionary Check

Go through your document and look up in a dictionary any words where you aren't 101 percent sure of their meaning. I've surprised myself a couple of times when I have used a word repeatedly only to look it up and find it has another meaning entirely.

B. Action and Active Voice

Your writing will be clearer if you structure your sentences as subject-verb-object; tell action rather than describing situations. Use your word processor to search for words ending in "-ed" -- if you preceded this word by "is" or "was" (or similar verbs) the phrase would be better rewritten. Also, check for the word "there" followed by "is" or "are" (or similar verbs).

D. Be Positive

Occasionally the word "not" is useful for emphasis. Most of the time though a sentence is stronger when positive; use your word processor to search for the word "not" and recast the sentence using other descriptives.

E. Drown Your Darlings

If something sticks in your mind as being "ever so clever" you probably should remove it.

F. Re-order Your Words and Sentences

Keep related words together -- adjectives next to their nouns.


MY ESSAY IS STILL TOO LONG! HOW DO I CUT WORDS?
Read your essay aloud at full volume (doing so forces you to go slow).
After each word or phrase, ask yourself, "If I cut this, will my meaning change?"
If the answer is "no", then cut it!

More tips here, including this activity from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), which is a fantastic resource for writers.

This resource will help you write clearly by eliminating unnecessary words and rearranging your phrases.

The goal of concise writing is to use the most effective words. Concise writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the strongest ones. Writers often fill sentences with weak or unnecessary words that can be deleted or replaced. Words and phrases should be deliberately chosen for the work they are doing. Like bad employees, words that don't accomplish enough should be fired. When only the most effective words remain, writing will be far more concise and readable.

This resource contains general conciseness tips followed by very specific strategies for pruning sentences.
1. Replace several vague words with more powerful and specific words.
Often, writers use several small and ambiguous words to express a concept, wasting energy expressing ideas better relayed through fewer specific words. As a general rule, more specific words lead to more concise writing. Because of the variety of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, most things have a closely corresponding description. Brainstorming or searching a thesaurus can lead to the word best suited for a specific instance. Notice that the examples below actually convey more as they drop in the word count.

Wordy: The politician talked about several of the merits of after-school programs in his speech (14 words)
Concise: The politician touted after-school programs in his speech. (8 words)

Wordy: Suzie believed but could not confirm that Billy had feelings of affection for her. (14 words)
Concise: Suzie assumed that Billy adored her. (6 words)

Wordy: Our website has made available many of the things you can use for making a decision on the best dentist. (20 words)
Concise: Our website presents criteria for determining the best dentist. (9 words)

Wordy: Working as a pupil under someone who develops photos was an experience that really helped me learn a lot. (20 words)
Concise: Working as a photo technician's apprentice was an educational experience. (10 words)

2. Interrogate every word in a sentence
Check every word to make sure that it is providing something important and unique to a sentence. If words are dead weight, they can be deleted or replaced. Other sections in this handout cover this concept more specifically, but there are some general examples below containing sentences with words that could be cut.

Wordy: The teacher demonstrated some of the various ways and methods for cutting words from my essay that I had written for class. (22 words)
Concise: The teacher demonstrated methods for cutting words from my essay. (10 words)

Wordy: Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood formed a new band of musicians together in 1969, giving it the ironic name of Blind Faith because early speculation that was spreading everywhere about the band suggested that the new musical group would be good enough to rival the earlier bands that both men had been in, Cream and Traffic, which people had really liked and had been very popular. (66 words)
Concise: Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood formed a new band in 1969, ironically naming it Blind Faith because speculation suggested that the group would rival the musicians’ previous popular bands, Cream, and Traffic. (32 words)

Wordy: Many have made the wise observation that when a stone is in motion rolling down a hill or incline that that moving stone is not as likely to be covered all over with the kind of thick green moss that grows on stationary unmoving things and becomes a nuisance and suggests that those things haven’t moved in a long time and probably won’t move any time soon. (67 words)
Concise: A rolling stone gathers no moss. (6 words)

3. Combine Sentences.
Some information does not require a full sentence, and can easily be inserted into another sentence without losing any of its value. To get more strategies for sentence combining, see the handout on Sentence Variety.

Wordy: Ludwig's castles are an astounding marriage of beauty and madness. By his death, he had commissioned three castles. (18 words)
Concise: Ludwig's three castles are an astounding marriage of beauty and madness. (11 words)

Wordy: The supposed crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial life. This crash is rumored to have occurred in 1947. (24 words)
Concise: The supposed 1947 crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial life. (16 words)

(found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/; accessed 11/2010)

Need more hints? Check out Vince's writing tips ▸ https://pinboard.in/u:Vince/t:writingtips/

When should I capitalize a word?

Q: WHEN DO I CAPITALIZE A WORD?
Capitalize:
The first word of a sentence.
The first word of a quotation. [He said, "Let's do it."]
Exception: If a quotation is less than a sentence, don't capitalize the first word. [He said it was "wonderful."]
The word "I."
Proper names and abbreviations of proper names. [S.D. Tripp]
Proper names used as adjectives. [the Fourier transform]
Geographical names and names of political units. [Asia, Fukushima]
Compass directions only when they are parts of names. [North Korea]
Names of streets, buildings, parks, and companies. [Broadway, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Sony]
Names of organizations and religions. [the Republican Party, Buddhism]
Names of races and nationalities. [Caucasian, Japanese]
The names of wars, battles, historical events, and historical periods. [World War II, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Period]
The names of prizes, treaties, and famous documents. [the Nobel Prize, the Declaration of Independence]
Military and civilian titles. [General MacArthur, Prime Minister Hashimoto]
Academic degrees. [John Smith, Ph.D.]


Q: Should I capitalize the title of my paper?
A: You should capitalize only the first word of the title.

Write your title like this: Emergency information terminal using energy harvesting technology

Not this: Emergency Information Terminal Using Energy Harvesting Technology


Q: Should I capitalize masters degree?
A: The answer depends on context.

If you are writing a sentence in which you mention a bachelor's degree or a master's degree or even a doctor's degree, do not capitalize------but always remember to use the apostrophe! (See http://www.cmu.edu/styleguide/capitalization.htmle.)

If you are writing a person's name and including degree(s) earned, capitalize the abbreviations as you've always seen them: Lynne Hancock, L.P.N., R.N., B.S.N., M.S.N or Lynda Eggleston, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Ordinarily it is not necessary to list all earned if they were successive. In other words, anyone holding a Ph.D. would hold a bachelor's and a master's, so Ph.D. is sufficient. If however you have someone with several fields of study, you'd want to indicate the highest degree earned within each field.)

If you are writing your own resume, use capitalized abbreviations:
EDUCATION
M.S. Zoology, 2006

These are the most often used contexts, but if your context is different from those mentioned above, just submit the question again with the context defined.

Capitalization of Academic Degrees
Perhaps you’ve wondered if and when academic degrees (bachelor’s, master’s, etc.) should be capitalized.
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) recommends writing academic degrees in lower case except when directly preceding or following a name.
Examples:
Orlando is pursuing a bachelor of science in civil engineering.
He introduced Jennifer Miller, Master of Fine Arts.
He introduced Master of Fine Arts Jennifer Miller.
The Associated Press Stylebook (AP) recommends no capitals when referring to degrees in general terms (bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, associate degree) but always capitalizing specific degrees (Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science), whether or not they directly precede or follow a name.
Examples:
Orlando is thinking about getting a Bachelor of Science degree.
Orlando is thinking about getting a master’s degree.
He introduced Orlando Cruz, Bachelor of Science.


I recommend you pick your resource and then be consistent.

Abbreviations of academic degrees are to be capitalized. CMOS recommends omitting periods unless required for tradition or consistency (BA, BS, MA, MS, PhD), but AP prefers retaining the periods (B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., Ph.D.).

When should I use acronyms (abbreviated words)?

In general, I encourage my clients to avoid acronyms whenever possible. Unless you need to use an acronym to save words, and unless you use the acronym more than once in your essay or resume, I suggest you spell everything out.

Busy admissions officers readers don't want to have to remember unfamiliar acronyms (abbreviated words). Keeping track of your arcane acronyms slows them down. Make it easier, not harder, for them to admit you. That said, when you must use an acronym multiple times in the same essay, please follow these general guidelines:

Q: HOW AND WHEN DO I USE ABBREVIATED WORDS?
A: Typically, an abbreviation is spelled out at its first instance in an article, followed by the abbreviated form within parentheses; in subsequent instances, only the abbreviation is used. However, this is not compulsory for terms that may be familiar to the intended readers.

CORRECT
As my long-term goal, I plan to become the CEO of my company.
(CEO is a well-known, universal acronym, so you do not need to spell it out the first time)

INCORRECT
I work as an engineer for NTT. NTT is Japan's leading telecommunications company.

INCORRECT
I work as an engineer for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation ("NTT"). NTT is Japan's leading telecommunications company.
(You don't need to put an acronym in quotes " ".)


CORRECT
I work as an engineer for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT is Japan's leading telecommunications company.
Q: SHOULD I USE ACRONYMS IN ADMISSIONS ESSAYS?
A: Please avoid acronyms. While they are effective in technical reports and internal communications for fellow practitioners, they have no place in admissions essays. Instead, use this opportunity to prove your ability to explain complex, technical information in a way that readers (and future classmates) can understand.

Should I use an indefinite article (a/an) or a definite article (the)?

ARTICLES



What is an article?
· Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.


English has two articles: the and a/an.

the = definite article used to refer to specific or particular nouns

a/an = indefinite article used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns

"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group 

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let's read a book," I mean any book (a non-particular book) rather than a specific book.


Omission of Articles
Not all nouns need articles. Some common types of nouns that don't take an article are:
Names of languages and nationalities: Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian (unless you are referring to the population of the nation in general: "The Spanish are known for their warm hospitality.")
Names of academic subjects: mathematics, biology, history, computer science
Exercise
· Find and circle all of the articles in your paper.
· Can you tell which nouns require definite and indefinite articles, and which require no article at all?

Homework – Find and fix any mistakes in your use of articles.



In addition to MS Word spell check, you might try Vince's "Google that stuff" (GTS) method.
1. Put your article phrase in quotation marks and search Google (.com English version, not co.jp).
· Example: "the veracity of a theory" (I could not find any instances of "a veracity of a theory." Therefore, this phrase always uses the definitive article ("the")
2. If professionally edited sites (not personal blogs) use the phrase as you have written it, then your articles are probably correct.
3. On the other hand, if you only find a few examples, or none at all, then you should probably use a different article, or none at all.


Try Vince's GTS method with the following phrases:
Can you find any indefinite article phrases for the following? (I could not.)
· "The Data Encryption Standard"
· "the Earth's crust"
· "the opposite polarity"
· "the power of reasoning"
· "the Secure Sockets Layer"
· "the theory of relativity"


I found instances of both definite and indefinite articles for the following phrases:
· "a carbon footprint" and "the carbon footprint" (e.g. of The carbon footprint an iPhone)
· "a symbiotic relationship” and. "the symbiotic relationship" (e.g. The symbiotic relationship between humans and domesticated animals)
· "an outlier from the data" and "the outlier from the data" (e.g. How does removing the outlier from the data affect the mean and the median?)


Vince's final observation: I believe the process of learning English articles is somewhat similar to the process of learning Japanese counter words (josūshi 助数詞), which are used along with numbers to count things, actions, and events. Someone learning Japanese simply needs to memorize the proper use of these unique grammatical structures. Perhaps English articles are similar in this regard. Therefore, if you read (and write) English every day, you will eventually develop instincts to differentiate definite and indefinite articles.


Even writers who grew up in English-speaking countries struggle with articles.


Here are some tips from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), which is a fantastic resource.

Using Articles

Summary: This handout discusses the differences between indefinite articles (a/an) and definite articles (the).

Contributors: Paul Lynch, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli
Last Edited: 2011-03-03 10:04:28

What is an article? Basically, an article is an adjective. Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.

English has two articles: the and a/an. The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article.
the = definite article
a/an = indefinite article

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let's read a book," I mean any book rather than a specific book.

Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, "I just saw the most popular movie of the year." There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.

"A/an" is used to refer to a non-specific or non-particular member of the group.
For example, "I would like to go see a movie." Here, we're not talking about a specific movie. We're talking about any movie. There are many movies, and I want to see any movie. I don't have a specific one in mind.
Let's look at each kind of article a little more closely.

Indefinite Articles: a and an
"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:
"My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas." This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog because we haven't found the dog yet.
"Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.
"When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

Remember, using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word. So...
a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot; an orphan
a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is used); a university; a unicycle
an + nouns starting with silent "h": an hour
a + nouns starting with a pronounced "h": a horse


In some cases where "h" is pronounced, such as "historical," you can use an. However, a is more commonly used and preferred.
A historical event is worth recording.

Remember that these rules also apply when you use acronyms:

Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP) handles first-year writing at the University. Therefore, an ICaP memo generally discusses issues concerning English 106 instructors.

Another case where this rule applies is when acronyms start with consonant letters but have vowel sounds:

An MSDS (material safety data sheet) was used to record the data. An SPCC plan (Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures plan) will help us prepare for the worst.

If the noun is modified by an adjective, the choice between a and an depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immediately follows the article:
a broken egg
an unusual problem
a European country (sounds like 'yer-o-pi-an,' i.e. begins with consonant 'y' sound)
Remember, too, that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a group:
I am a teacher. (I am a member of a large group known as teachers.)
Brian is an Irishman. (Brian is a member of the people known as Irish.)
Seiko is a practicing Buddhist. (Seiko is a member of the group of people known as Buddhists.)

Definite Article: the
The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group.

For example:
"The dog that bit me ran away." Here, we're talking about a specific dog, the dog that bit me.
"I was happy to see the policeman who saved my cat!" Here, we're talking about a particular policeman. Even if we don't know the policeman's name, it's still a particular policeman because it is the one who saved the cat.
"I saw the elephant at the zoo." Here, we're talking about a specific noun. Probably there is only one elephant at the zoo.

Count and Noncount Nouns
The can be used with noncount nouns, or the article can be omitted entirely.
"I love to sail over the water" (some specific body of water) or "I love to sail over water" (any water).
"He spilled the milk all over the floor" (some specific milk, perhaps the milk you bought earlier that day) or "He spilled milk all over the floor" (any milk).

"A/an" can be used only with count nouns.
"I need a bottle of water."
"I need a new glass of milk."

Most of the time, you can't say, "She wants a water," unless you're implying, say, a bottle of water.
Geographical use of the
There are some specific rules for using the with geographical nouns.
Do not use the before:
names of most countries/territories: Italy, Mexico, Bolivia; however, thethe Dominican Republic, the Philippines, the United States Netherlands,
names of cities, towns, or states: Seoul, Manitoba, Miami
names of streets: Washington Blvd., Main St.
names of lakes and bays: Lake Titicaca, Lake Erie except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
names of mountains: Mount Everest, Mount Fuji except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Rockies or unusual names like the Matterhorn
names of continents (Asia, Europe)
names of islands (Easter Island, Maui, Key West) except with island chains like the Aleutians, the Hebrides, or the Canary Islands

Do use the before:
names of rivers, oceans and seas: the Nile, the Pacific
points on the globe: the Equator, the North Pole
geographical areas: the Middle East, the West
deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas: the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest, the Iberian Peninsula
Omission of Articles
Some common types of nouns that don't take an article are:
Names of languages and nationalities: Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian (unless you are referring to the population of the nation: "The Spanish are known for their warm hospitality.")

Names of sports: volleyball, hockey, baseball
Names of academic subjects: mathematics, biology, history, computer science


(found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01; accessed 2011/06)

________________________________________


"A" PHRASES FOR ENGINEERS and SCIENTISTS

1. a bell curve
2. a blatant error
3. a bold conjecture
4. a brilliant metamorphosis
5. a carbon footprint
6. a cell membrane
7. a confirmatory test
8. a controlled trial
9. a cost-benefit analysis
10. a cryptogram
11. a falsifiable hypothesis
12. a falsification of the facts
13. a favorable variation
14. a fear of contagion
15. a gene mutation
16. a generalized infection
17. a genotype
18. a human embryo
19. a life science ombudsman
20. a life-giving elixir
21. a light receptor
22. a major category
23. a major premise
24. a mechanical contrivance
25. a memory module
26. a negative connotation
27. a negative externality
28. a neurodegenerative disorder
29. a neurophysiological change
30. a paradoxical truth
31. a particle trajectory
32. a perceptible distinction
33. a perennial problem
34. a performance metric
35. a phenotype
36. a physical examination
37. a physiotherapist
38. a plurality of users
39. a practitioner of naturopathy
40. a precipitous decline
41. a prime locus
42. a prominent microbiologist
43. a psychoactive drug
44. a refined experiment
45. a regression into infancy
46. a replication of an experiment
47. a reserve of oil
48. a reciprocal relationship
49. a retrovirus
50. a scientific milestone
51. a scientific article
52. a self-regulating system
53. a sentient being
54. a separate cell
55. a separate entity
56. a skin irritation study
57. a somatic cell
58. a state of disequilibrium
59. a state of flux
60. a supernormal range of vision
61. a symbiotic relationship
62. a systematizer of data
63. a theoretical construct
64. a theoretical discipline
65. a therapeutic process
66. a transfer protocol
67. a transitional fossil
68. a transmutation from A to B
69. a transposition cipher
70. a traumatic procedure
71. a vital clue
72. a water-related epidemic
73. a wiring fault
74. a world-class geophysicist
75. a zero-emission vehicle


________________________________________

"AN" PHRASES FOR ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS

1. an aberration
2. an able exponent of science
3. an ad hoc explanation
4. an adaptive advantage
5. an add-on device
6. an adult cell
7. an adverse effect
8. an allele
9. an allergen
10. an allopathic doctor
11. an analgesic
12. an anesthetic
13. an aquatic arthropod
14. an area of contention
15. an astrophysicist
16. an elective subject
17. an electron
18. an elementary particle
19. an embryonic stem cell
20. an eminent publicist
21. an empathy with animals
22. an endemic disease
23. an ethical transgression
24. an imaging experiment
25. an impending disaster
26. an impossible dilemma
27. an indigenous species
28. an influential preceptor
29. an ingenious experiment
30. an inner cell mass
31. an insidious disease
32. an insuperable obstacle
33. an interceptor
34. an intermediate stage
35. an optimally-controlled motor
36. an oral vaccine
37. an organ transplant
38. an ornithologist
39. an outlier from the data
40. an underlying reason



"THE" PHRASES FOR ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS

1. the ability to reproduce
2. the acuity of vision
3. the age of puberty
4. the Arctic rim of Alaska
5. the causal nexus
6. the climate jigsaw
7. the cranium of a cat
8. the Data Encryption Standard
9. the Earth's crust
10. the eaves of a house
11. the efficacy of a treatment
12. the equivalent of a command
13. the evidence of plagiarism
14. the genetics behind cancer
15. the history of cryptography
16. the imperative of justice
17. the impoverishment of Africa
18. the incidence of catastrophes
19. the integrity of science
20. the lexical cohesion
21. the lexicon of medicine
22. the lore of herbal medicine
23. the minutiae
24. the movement of a photon
25. the Neolithic era
26. the neuroscience of dementia
27. the offspring of a hybrid
28. the only method conceivable
29. the opposite polarity
30. the power of reasoning
31. the Secure Sockets Layer
32. the theory of relativity
33. the transcription of a gene
34. the uniformity of nature
35. the veracity of a theory