Proofreading Your Thesis

Your examiners will expect your thesis to be free from errors of spelling and sense, for headings and labels in the text to be consistent with those in your List of Contents, and for references and other information to be presented accurately. Mistakes can be introduced quite easily to any document as long as a thesis, so it is important that you undertake a thorough proofreading exercise to ensure that the thesis your examiners receive is as free from errors as possible.

Before you start proofreading, remember two things:

• Make sure that you are proofreading the most recent draft of your thesis - do not be the student who spends valuable time and energy proofreading a thesis that is not the most recent version.
• Make time for proofreading - it should be something that you have planned for and allocated time to before your expected submission date: proofreading requires care and time and should not be an afterthought at the end of the writing process.

How do I proofread?

When you come to proofread your thesis, you may find the following advice of help:

• proofread one section/chapter at a time giving yourself a break in between each one
• proofread your thesis twice - once to check that everything you have written makes sense and once for accuracy of spelling, punctuation, etc.
• do not rely on spellcheck software - it cannot tell you when you have used "there" when you meant to say "their" and it will miss other things too
• proofread diagrams/tables/illustrations separately and ensure that the caption is correct in each case
• check your List of Contents and make sure the headings and page numbers given there are consistent with the main thesis

Finally, do not forget that proofreading requires a lot of concentration - it is not something you should start if you are tired or do for long stretches of time. And when you have finished, it never hurts to ask a friend to look over your thesis and see if a fresh pair of eyes catches something that you have missed.

What next?

When you are happy that your text is free from errors, do not rush off to get your thesis bound. You now need make sure that you have followed the University's rules for formatting your thesis.