In this week’s blog I’m going to cover a couple of separate topics – but they are linked and both of them are important.
Recently, I’ve been looking at some exam papers and I was amazed at the number of students who lost marks because they didn’t read the questions properly. I can’t stress enough that however good your English is, or however thorough your understanding of a subject – if you don’t answer the question that is asked you will lose marks. You might even be awarded nothing!
So, whenever you finish an exam paper, put it to one side for at least a day. Then come back to it and re-read each question and your answer. As well as checking for any careless mistakes in your answers also check that they really do provide the information that the examiner is looking for.
The need to check your work carefully also applies to your correspondence – and to report writing in particular. Have you ever tried one of the online writing tools that can help you to get your grammar and spelling right? Here are two that are very popular:
Grammarly boasts that it’s the world’s most accurate grammar checker, making you a better writer by finding and correcting 10 times more mistakes than the grammar/spellcheck facility on your word processing package.
PaperRater promises to do much the same but it also claims to provide free online proofreading. I suspect this site is more aimed at American college students – but one of the advantages is that it’s free.
There are review sites where people give their opinions of how well the sites work, so it may be worth reading users’ reports as well as experimenting yourself.
It’s useful to have help of this kind but, in my opinion, they’re no substitute for making sure that you have a good command of the language and a wide vocabulary. Plus, when you have finished writing something important – a report, a college essay or dissertation, a press release – then always leave yourself time to put it aside for a day or two and then check it again.
When you come back to it you will be viewing it with a fresh pair of eyes and you will be more likely to pick out mistakes that you have made in grammar, punctuation and spelling. You might also want to consider asking a trusted colleague or friend to read through your work to ensure that what is clear to you is also clear to them. And because they are not as close to the subject they are often able to spot mistakes that you may have missed.
I know these suggestions are just common sense, but sometimes it helps to be reminded of them!
Author: Diana Nadin
