A guide to noticing errors in your homework

Students are notorious for committing errors in their homework (if they do their homework at all). Fortunately, students do not have to do much to recognize when they make errors in their written homework assignments. With a little care and patience, students can complete homework with fewer errors.

Look at the Errors Highlighted by Your Word Processing App

One of the most common errors involves ignoring notifications from word processing apps. Most of the commonly used apps will underline or highlight errors on the screen. Too many students ignore the highlights and just keep typing. Word processing apps will notify users when there are spelling and word choice mistakes. They will also notify users when there are mistakes in grammar and usage, too. Unfortunately, the word processing apps are not always accurate when they find grammar errors. Students might have to do a little research before they commit to the corrections the apps want to make.

Reread with a One-foot Voice

Another way to notice mistakes is to reread what you write. Reading your writing in a one-foot voice is a good way to quickly notice errors. When you read your writing aloud, you are more likely to notice where you have accidentally skipped words and where you have written awkward sentences. You will be able to hear where you have issues with the flow of your paragraphs and hopefully find a few other errors that you might have not have noticed visually.

Quality Work Shows You Care

Taking a few extra minutes to show you care about the quality of your work says something. Your instructors will notice that you have taken care to write high quality papers, especially when they do not see many errors. They will notice when they do not have to mark errors and they will see that your work has improved. Your instructors will appreciate the care that you take and it will show in your improved grades. If you ever needed a letter of recommendation from your instructors, they will be more likely to write kind words about your work ethic.

Check Out an Online Grammar Checking Program

If you do not trust your one-foot voice or you are leery of your grammar skills, there are plenty of websites that will check grammar and explain errors. In most cases, you copy and paste your essay into the website and it will run a check on it. The websites usually look at word frequency and other aspects of your paper that grammar checks on word processing apps do not do.

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