Before submitting or printing an academic research paper, essay, email, memo, or any other written document, it is very important to carefully proofread it. Proofreading of written material is the final and essential step that must be taken before a document can be considered complete.

When proofreading a document, you should first read it slowly and carefully to determine whether or not it communicates its message. If the title or the introductory paragraph do not clearly signal the intent of the paper or if the paragraphs which follow do not naturally flow from that introduction, you might want to rewrite those parts of your paper. If the research does not seem to verify what you are attempting to communicate, you may wish to rethink your thesis or you may need to conduct further research.

Once that part of the proofreading process, the overview editing, has been completed, it is time to perform a more exacting analysis of the paper. During this part of the proofreading procedure, you should search for errors in spelling, word usage, grammar, and punctuation. After all, a poorly written paper cannot possibly communicate its message properly to the reader.