Page 247 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

The first proofreading should go from the top of the essay down. As
you proofread from the top down, check to make sure that the

connections between your ideas are smooth and solid and that the

sentences and paragraphs flow smoothly into one another. Check for

parallel structure, clear pronoun reference, and appropriate

transitional expressions. After correcting any problems you find in the

top-down proofreading, move to the second type of proofreading, the
bottom-up proofreading.

The Bottom-Up Technique

The bottom-up proofreading technique is more labor intensive and

more focused than top-down proofreading. When you read from the

bottom up, you are no longer reading your essay as a single piece of

writing but as disconnected sentences that do not flow into one
another. Because your focus is on a single sentence, you can look at

it closely, as if it is a sentence in a grammar exercise. Read it

carefully, correct any errors you find, and then move to the preceding

sentence.

The Targeting Technique

If you have a “favorite error”—one that you seem to make more often

than any other—try doing an additional proofreading to target that
error. Following are some common errors and shortcuts to finding