To produce high-quality scholarly and academic documents, effective proofreading is of immense importance. If done cautiously, thoroughly and correctly, proofreading can ensure proper communication with the intended reader. Errors and mistakes result in imperfection and convey negligence.
Students should understand the need of proofreading their academic documents for multiple reasons:
Firstly, a proofreader brings a fresh and ideally objective perspective to a student’s writing. A trained proofreader will be able to focus on exactly what the students want to convey in his text and catch ambiguities and errors. If the proofreader is an expert in English language and a specialist in the student’s subject area, he or she will possess the skills to correct and polish grammar, spelling and punctuation and determine if the references made by the students are accurate, thorough and consistent. He will also ensure that the academic writings meet the high standards expected in the particular discipline and field.
Secondly, proofreading of academic documents ensures that it gets the precise attention of the proofreader so that every detail is examined and the student’s work communicates with precision and sophistication. It is imperative for a student to benefit from a successful proofreader with appropriate linguistic and academic skills to ensure that the academic writings represent both the student as well as his work as professionally and efficiently as possible.
Thirdly, as it is well known that academia is difficult. The language used in academia usually doesn’t always work exactly as it does in the rest of the world. It is often seen that academics love to take words and make them mean different things in different contexts. So it is essential for students to get their work improved by a subject specialist, by someone who has thorough knowledge in the relevant field and is an expert in it.
Finally, examiners often judge academic papers precisely on the students’ ability to use difficult and obscure language, because one of the main purposes of most student assessments is to give the students the opportunity to demonstrate that they understand their subject and have thorough subject knowledge. Students are required to show that they know how to do proper references, write formally and use technical language correctly.
So it is imperative that the students produce work that is improved so that it demonstrates their ability to use vocabulary correctly and fluently.