What is proofreading?
Proofreading vs Copy Editing
If you are at the stage of considering hiring an editor to review your work it is important that you both set clear expectations. Setting clear expectations in what you expect, or simply clarifying the services offered by the editor. In the proofreading and editing field there are a number of terms and labels that are used to refer to similar tasks, knowing the difference is essential for transparency.
What is proofreading?
Many people often ask ‘what is proofreading?’ as they confuse the different editorial terms. Proofreading is the process of examining the final draft of a document or text — after it has been edited — this is to ensure that there are absolutely no errors. A proofreader will review your writing for spelling errors, punctuation errors, typos or incorrect use of regional English (i.e. ensuring that you are using American English or British English when necessary).
A professional proofreading service will typically proofread your work using track changes in Microsoft Word, this is to ensure transparency so you know exactly what has been changed and can approve the change.
Although in the majority of cases proofreading is now done electronically, proofreading can also be done on a printed version (also referred to as a “hard copy”) or PDF. In such situations you may need to familiarise yourself with the proofreaders shorthands and symbols they use to indicate changes.
What is Editing?
When you are looking to hire the services of a professional editor, your objective is to hire someone to review and change your text with the intent to improve the flow and overall quality of your writing. Unlike a proofreader an editor has the freedom to remove entire sentences or rewrite entire paragraphs. A good editor will correct any obvious errors they come across as they edit your writing. Essentially their main goal is to use their expertise and intuition to ensure that the document makes sense, flows well and to cut down on wordiness, and clarify any ambiguity in your writing.
What is Copyediting?
Copyediting a document in essence is similar to proofreading it. Although with the added expectation of ensuring style consistency. Copyediting is also known as “sub-editing” in places such as the UK, Australia and elsewhere.
When you are looking for a copyeditor, it is important to ensure that they have the talented eye of a proofreader, as well as additional expertise in matters of different styles of writing. Some measures of consistency include making sure names, locations and dates are always treated the same way throughout the text. A copyeditor will also have expert knowledge of different style guides and may also perform fact-checking or have specialised knowledge in a particular field.
To Summarise:
An editor
- Rewrites sentences and paragraphs to improve flow
- Makes the text clearer and more understandable for the reader
- Uses their expertise and knowledge to clarify and improve text
A proofreader
- Goes beyond the “spellcheck” to catch errors a computer may miss
- Ensures that there are zero grammatical errors, often after it has already been edited
A copyeditor
- Proofreads, with an added expertise in order to ensure style consistency appropriate to the publication
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How To Make Your Writing More Analytical?
Analytical writing in literary writing
Analytical writing is crucial in academic literary writing as it signals a greater insight and understanding of the subject matter. Taking notes is a crucial step in writing an analytical essay because it will help you discover important points in the writing that you are analysing and help you see how ideas fit together.
Begin by carefully reading through the writing that you will analyse and take notes as you read. At this point you should write down or make a mental note of anything that seems significant to you. For example, does a particular character’s actions seem odd or out of place? When you read what one character said to another, did you think it told you something more about the character’s relationship to the story? If so, write it down.
Jot down your thoughts as you read. You need to look beyond the surface of the piece of literature in order to understand the true meaning. Don’t accept anything at face value.
Try to examine deeper and at each level
A flower in a poem may be more than a flower, it might be a symbol of love. The red hat a character wears might be more than a hat. It might be a symbol of a characters independence. Do not merely summarise what happens in the literature, you need to write a commentary.
You should ultimately be writing your thoughts about the writing and what you are reading, asking questions and asking why certain events occurred, why the characters acted the way that they did. Also why the author would have wrote in that particular way. You should also be then drawing connections and using the space to help you develop meaning and to analyse the piece of writing.
Focus
Review your notes and look for the gems you’ve uncovered in your analysis. Decide which ideas you will use as the focus for your paper.
Spend some time examining and organising your ideas, as you may need to narrow your focus into an appropriate topic for your paper. For instance, you might look for recurring symbols in a poem, or you might look at character development in a short story, or you might look at the theme of a novel.
Develop a thesis
The thesis will be one statement (generally at the end of you introductory paragraph) that tells readers what your paper is about. It lets readers know the point of your analytical essay.
In other words, now that you have examined each part of the writing, you would tell your readers what it all means. For instance, if the speaker in a poem refers to black objects, your thesis might explain the use of black objects as a symbol for death.
Develop the body
The body of your paper needs to contain evidence to support your thesis. You need to convince your readers of your point. You can do this by finding examples from the piece of writing that you are analysing.
Use your notes again, to find places in the writing that support your ideas and points. You might use a short piece of dialogue to explain a character’s mood and how it contributes to his character. You might include a summary or paraphrase of an event that contributes to the overall development of the story’s theme.
Develop the conclusion
Your conclusion will let readers know that they have reached the end of your paper and will provide some type of restatement of your key arguments.
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How To Write A Conclusion For An Essay
Your conclusion paragraph should begin with a smooth transition from the body of your essay. The first sentence of your paragraph should include clear transition words to signal to your reader that you are beginning to wrap up your essay. Different transition words can have different effects, so be sure to choose a transition word or phrase that clearly communicates that you are closing your essay. Some common examples of conclusion transition words and phrases include:
- In conclusion,
- To conclude,
- Finally,
- To sum up,
- As previously stated.
Once you have signalled that you are drawing your essay to a close, you can then restate the primary points of your essay. Depending on the length of your essay, this may be done in a single sentence, or it may require a few sentences. Be concise and clear; you should be able to summarise each main point in a simple phrase that avoids restating each detail and piece of evidence related to the point. Also simply list off the point as a reminder to your audience about what they’ve just read.
Restate your main points
Finally, if you are writing an argumentative essay, you’ll want to clearly restate your main argument in order to leave readers with one final appeal. If you have provided enough evidence along the way, this restatement should make readers feel as if you’ve persuaded them fully.
Call to action
For some expository and argumentative essays, it’s appropriate to end with a call to action as your last sentence. For example, if you’re writing an informative essay about the sea creatures that live in the very deepest parts of the ocean, you may close with a sentence like this: “It’s clear that today’s scientists should continue to observe and document these mysterious creatures, so we may learn more about the life at the bottom of the ocean.” A call to action like this can make your reader feel inspired and informed after reading your essay.
What to avoid
When writing a strong conclusion paragraph, you want to keep it simple. Use a clear transition word or phrase, restate your main points and arguments, and possibly finish with a call to action. Be sure to avoid the following common mistakes:
- New information. Your conclusion is not the place to introduce anything new. Simply restate and summarise the main points clearly.
- Personal opinion. Unless you are writing an opinion piece that includes several “I” statements throughout, avoid ending your essay with a sudden “I think…” or “I feel…” If you haven’t been including your personal opinion throughout the essay, then you shouldn’t insert your opinion into the conclusion.
- Lots of detail. When you restate your main points, don’t worry about restating all the small details that make up your description or evidence. The place for details is in your body paragraphs. The conclusion is simply for summary and a possible call for action or next steps.
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Developing Critical Thinking Skills
A Guide To Developing Critical Thinking Skills
One of the best ways to develop critical thinking skills is by studying and reading a lot. Finishing college, or a degree is not enough. As much as practically possible, be sure to make everyday a learning experience. By exercising your mind through reading and studying new concepts and ideas, you can develop critical thinking. There are a number of materials that you can choose from, such as pursuing other fields of interest aside from your own profession.
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Practice solving puzzles and quizzes.
Exercise your mind by solving problems. According to studies there is a tendency for the brain to deteriorate when it is not used regularly in deep thinking or analysis. Therefore, when you solve puzzles and logical or abstract reasoning quizzes, the mind is put to action. In doing so, you become active mentally and also able to learn more ideas as you become an active thinker. Some studies also show that people who often use their minds for mental activities are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
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Analyse, and think critically about new ideas.
Now that ideas are easily accessed and are widespread through the internet and mass media, so much can be learned and acquired in so short a time. However, it is not wise to just accept anything that you hear or see; you have to examine them to see if they are valid, legal and true. Learn and analyse which things to accept and which are to be ignored. Remember, too much information can be overwhelming and confusing. There is therefore a need for your mind to screen and sift all information that you encounter every day. In this way, you become wiser and more productive mentally as well as emotionally and physically.
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Think, and practice mediation.
The most active form of developing critical thinking is through meditation. Meditation makes you exercise control of mind over matter. Your mind becomes an active place for several activities such as: cleansing of mind from information which may lead to wrong actions and decisions; accepting healthy thoughts into the cleansed mind; and letting the good ideas come to work and change the way you think. A clear and healthy mind is only achieved through frequent meditation. Make it a regular part of your daily or weekly regime and you will surely be surprised at the results.
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Persuasive Writing Guide
Writing persuasively
A persuasive essay is a form of academic writing that is built around a central argument. Such essays are sometimes called argumentative essays because of this. In this category of composition, the writer aims to persuade the reader to accept his or her point of view. There are numerous steps to follow when constructing persuasive arguments which we will cover in this article.
Steps for writing a persuasive essay:
First decide on the issue you will be discussing. It needs to be a topic you have a solid opinion on, and also a topic people disagree about.
Research the issue to be aware of how to best prove your point. Consider what your possible opponents can object to on each point you make.
Make an outline, listing your strongest arguments that will help you prove your point. Look for statistics, factual data and quotes of famous people to support your arguments.
Write an introduction, stating how debated the issue is and why it is important to reach consensus on the matter. Finish the introduction with a thesis statement, indicating your personal position on the discussed subject.
Argue your point, introducing a new reason or fact in every paragraph. There should be no less than three strong arguments to support your point of view.
Make a conclusion. Here you may express your understanding as to why the matter is so difficult to agree upon, but conclude that the position you support is the best possible (or most likely to be true) variant based on the evidence you provided earlier in the essay.
Thoroughly proofread your essay.
Key points to consider
There are various persuasive techniques that have been proven to be the most effective in an argumentative essay. Three basic persuasive techniques are: appeal to emotions, appeal to facts and evidence, and appeal to logic. Try to combine and mix them to make a stronger point.
Build your argument based on your audiences and its qualities. Think of who you are appealing to, envision your audience’s main characteristics and build your arguments based on what your audience most values.
An approach to persuasion is when a writer is aware of the point of view of an opposing side, and then argues about its weaknesses. Use parenthetical clauses such as, however nevertheless, despite the fact that, on the other hand, and so on to link the two opposing points together.
Combine the main points with minor points that also contribute to the general idea. Start each paragraph with its major point, then go on to explain it, and introduce a minor point closer to the end of the paragraph to support your initial major point. Using rhetorical questions and appealing to common truths is a sound way to make a point.
Do’s and Don’ts
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Do
- Do prove your points with factual data. Stating something without factual basis is considered a weak point, so a successful essay should have statistics and quotes that serve as supporting evidence.
- Do be certain about your position.
- Do appeal to the emotions of your readers. This can have more of an effect than raw facts.
- Do make sure to review the points of both sides of the argument before you start making the outline.
- Do remain tolerant of the other people’s opinions, even if you strongly disagree with them.
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Don’t
- Don’t be too flat and determined in trying to prove your point, ignoring counter arguments. Recognising the fact that a lot of people might not agree does not mean that you expose your arguments weak side.
- Don’t choose a topic that you are hesitant about which side to take. You should be solid and steady in what you are trying to prove, otherwise it will be almost impossible to persuade your reader.
- Don’t try to introduce another argument in the conclusion. The conclusion should be about summarising and reiterating why your main message is important.
- Don’t appeal to subjective personal or religious beliefs. Try to remain objective and focus on facts.
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How To Write A Medical Personal Statement
The medicine personal statement is not the time to recount all your activities and honours in list like fashion. Therefore avoid the rehashed CV and make it personal. This is your opportunity to personalise your application. Show the admissions committee why you have decided to go into medicine. Was it an experience you had at school? Was there a particular extracurricular activity that changed your way of thinking? Did you find a summer job so exhilarating that it reconfirmed your love for the sciences? Use anecdotes to weave a story and make the essay a pleasure to read.
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Avoid controversial topics
If you do include discussion of a “hot topic” definitely avoid being dogmatic or preachy. You do not want to take the risk of alienating the reader who may not share your views about politics.
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Don’t get too creative
Now is not the time to write poetry. Remember, the medical establishment is largely a scientific community (although individual physicians may be passionate artists, poets, writers, musicians, historians, etc). On the other hand, don’t be trite and don’t be boring.
Avoid writing “I want to be a doctor because…”
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No apologies
For instance, if you received a C in physics, you may feel compelled to justify it somehow. Unless you believe that the circumstances do truly merit some sort of mention, don’t make excuses. You don’t need to provide them with a road map to your weaknesses. If you had a bad year or term because of illness, family problems, etc.. ask your advisor to explain the details in his or her cover letter.
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Write multiple drafts
Have your advisor and perhaps an English teacher read and edit it. Proofread, proofread and proofread some more. Also, try reading it out loud. This is always a good test of clarity and flow.
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Think ahead to interviews
Medicine interviewers often use your Medicine personal statement as fodder for questions. Of course, if you’ve included experiences and ideas that are dear to you, and that you feel strongly about, you will have no problem speaking with passion and confidence. Nothing is more appealing to admissions than a vibrant, intelligent and articulate candidate. If you write about research you concluded five years ago, you’d better brush up before your interviews. Don’t engage in hyperbole: You risk running up against an interviewer who will see through your exaggerations.
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Have a look at examples
It will also be helpful to have a look at examples of successful medical school personal statements. A medicine personal statement has to be unique, however at the same time there are ways to convey your achievements in the most effective way. Here is an example of a successful medicine personal statement to help provide you with some inspiration.
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How To Write A UCAS Personal Statement?
The UCAS Personal Statement plays a vital role in the University admissions application process today. Although there is much conflicting advice as to how best to approach writing a UCAS Personal Statement it is important to first focus on the basics. To keep it simple try using the following 3 steps when thinking through and planning the content, organisation and structure of your Personal Statement.
- It is your job to understand and reflect what skills, attributes or experiences are most important in the applicants that the tutors are looking for – in other words their demands from applicants for a place on the course.
- The next step is to connect yourself with these demands – your experience, skills, attributes, qualities, relevant interests, as ways of providing evidence of your suitability. Here you should try to connect evidence of your subject ‘passion’ with what they are looking for and why your evidence is relevant. This is where you articulate in your words how evidence of subject ‘passion’ plus your motivation for the sought-after qualification, gives strong indications of likely performance on the course and beyond.
- The final step is to articulate what you would hope to bring to the course and your related aims for the future, with the course as a key step in your career plan. Remember, it is a competitive process and you need to collect, organise and articulate your evidence regarding your achievements.
Try to say something which is not clichéd or has been used a million time already – but do not overdo things either with phrases or quotes which are beyond your normal use. Always provide evidence of anything you claim or aspire to and try to say why. So try to make your Personal Statement original – simply by being yourself.
Finally, a few other do’s and don’ts
Don’t
- Try jokes, start every sentence with ‘I’ or offer political or religious views.
- Copy existing Personal Statements as UCAS has a search feature and will spot it.
- Compose your draft Personal Statement using the UCAS website, as you will revise and edit it several times before you finally send it.
But Do
- Use personal stories or quotes which are relevant and well known to you. – and which help you express yourself as being well-informed, well-intentioned and well researched.
- Look up existing Personal Statements and learn from them – the good and the not so good all have learning points.
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Writing An Effective Cover Letter
Start with a warm and professional greeting. This person is considering hiring you – so your opening line should encourage them to think of you as someone they would like to work with. “Dear Mr. Smith,” “Dear John Smith” or “Mr Smith,” are all appropriate. Anything extremely casual should be changed to err on the side of formality. If you do not know the name of the person doing the hiring then you should start with “Dear Sir/Madam,” this is a great way to set a professional tone from the get-go.
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Get to the point
Your cover letter is not the time to write a novel about yourself. Let the employer know why you are contacting them, what skills you have that make you the right person for this position, and where they can find more information about your work experience.
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Hit the highlights
Most job postings will give you very clear hints about the type of skills the desired candidate will have. If you have these skills, you should mention them – repeating the employer’s needs for the role and how you fill those criteria will make it clear that you are the right person for the job.
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Follow directions
Many potential employers will ask candidates to fulfil a specific request in their cover letter. This is designed to help them quickly weed through applications, and cull out those who are taking the “copy and paste” approach to submitting resumes. If you are asked to answer specific questions or include a keyword in your reply, make sure you do it. As an added bonus, calling out that they have requested this information is a great way to let them know you are about to make their hiring decision even easier.
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Close the sale
Make sure you let them know your availability for the position and invite them to contact you to discuss further. It is essentially a polite way to “ask for the job” and reinforce your enthusiasm for working with the employer.
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Reread, edit and consider
Before you click “send” take another look at the job description. Did you address all of their criteria in your cover letter? If you were the person hiring for this position, would your cover letter fit the bill? Does your profile and you portfolio support your application for this job? (If not, don’t apply!) Save your energy for a position that better suits your skills and abilities. If you are unsure, ask a friend to review the job posting and your cover letter, and listen carefully to their perspective – they might find a hidden gem that makes the difference in you landing the job.
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