It may not be necessary that a good writer may also be a good editor or proof reader. At the same time the task of proofreading isn’t any less important than the task of writing. After all the your valuable research becomes presentable only after the content has been furnished and polished. Here are some tips for you to refine your proofreading :
• Usage of Pronouns: not all pronouns can be used liberally in a thesis as some pronouns such as “this”, “that” and “it” may bring in a lot of ambiguity and the interpretation of the same may differ from person to person.
• Usage of Hard and Strong Words: assertive words should not be used in the thesis generally, unless you have evidence to prove something or it is a fact. Words such as “only” and “never” may be conflicting words for opinions where more generalised terms should be used.
• The Power of Punctuations: punctuations, particularly commas are very important and there use should be judicious in academic writing. They should be used to emphasize a conceptual pause rather than a verbal pause. One must though try to make more simple sentences and use more full stops instead of commas. Polish your punctuation rules before you get into the whirlpool of proofreading a document as big and complicated as a thesis.
• Symbols and text: Try to avoid mixing text and equations or math symbols to avoid complications or confusion in comprehending them. Connectors such as “and” , “or” should not be used in equation to bring in more visual clarity. Symbols should abstain from unnecessary text.
• Defining of terminology: Whenever there is scientific terminology used in research or there are specific symbols. Whether they are used commonly or no, they should by rule be defined once before getting used in the document. The symbols and terminology has to be not necessarily introduced formally, it can be done in an informal manner as well by using a different font, if required. Never take the liberty here to draw your own standardization, follow the rules.
• References: Ensure to check the relevance of all existing work that you use in references and verify that the source is original and not pedagogical. A thorough checklist is mandatory here, even if it sounds difficult.
Don’t just sit relaxed after a single attempt of proofreading but do multiple attempts to find spelling errors and typos that may get overlooked in the first attempt. Remember, proofreading doesn’t finish in one round!!