Proofread a Dissertation Like a Pro!

It takes months and even years of toil to prepare a dissertation. After this, students cannot afford to allow simple mistakes to spoil the tone and impact of their work. Proofreading is, therefore, a must!

The road to writing a dissertation is long and arduous; it takes its pound of sweat, tears and blood along with many other sacrifices before acquiring even a semblance of presentability. When the hundreds of pages are finally ready and organized, it is time to go over the document with a fine-toothed comb to weed out the errors.

Indeed, dissertation proofreading is what will polish the document to have a professional, impressive and trustworthy shine. The following is advice on how a student can tackle this monumental task on his/her own:

• Once the last word has been written and edited, take a break from the dissertation for a few days. Coming back with a fresh mind will deliver better results.
• Begin with the large issues like the overall structure and layout of the text. Check whether the content is broken into appropriate paragraphs and the arguments flow in a logical manner.
• Thesis writers have to follow a particular style throughout the document. So, first check for inadvertent deviations in the headings or sub-headings before moving on to the page numbering, captioning of graphs and tables, labelling the sources and other elements. Ensure that the same format is followed in terms of spacing, font styles, font sizes, title case, use of italics, hyphens and more.
• Pay attention to the abbreviations and acronyms; check that they are always written out in full at the first usage.
• Make full use of the word processing tools such as setting the language to British English/American English, spellchecker, Find and Replace options, etc. This will become a rudimentary check that will reduce the burden when it is time to get down to more detailed proofreading.
• Spellcheckers and other tools can miss a lot of errors in spelling and the like. A careful reading and rereading is essential to catch all the mistakes in spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Other tips like printing out a hard copy, reading aloud, and breaking the document into smaller segments will improve the focus and ensure that maximum errors are removed from the dissertation. Some people even check for one kind of mistake at a time while some avow that reading backwards works wonders.

All said and done, it cannot be denied that a writer can never catch all of his/her own mistakes, no matter how perfect their command of English. Similarly, the student will be too vested in the thesis to be able to notice all the errors. A more objective eye is the need of the hour. While friends and colleagues can be a good resource, it is always better to seek professional proofreading services – like HKNETS – as they are knowledgeable and will tackle the dissertation in a methodical manner. Look for quality work here as a low price or quick turnaround time does not always augur well in this case!