Proofreading is a bit like cleaning the bugs of the windshield of the car, or shaving or putting on face makeup. It's all about the surface, but if you miss a spot – it's distracting. The challenge is that you are likely to not notice your own oversights or mistakes. If I can't spell “conoiseur” (or is it “connoissour” or “connoisseur”, I have to work really hard to notice when I mistype it. It's worse if I'm skimming quickly, and even harder if I am reading on a computer screen and would rather just submit my work.

Writing is almost always more formal than speech. Formal writing need not be stiff. Some of these “rules” will seem questionable. Good writers can cleverly break them and get praised for it. Some will eventually change or are in process of fading and morphing. Consider them the way you might view the dress code for a job interview. I might have reasons for showing up wearing my ripped jeans and sandals; I might also lose the job. Best if I am aware of the stakes and how my choice will be interpreted before choosing.

Tips

Use a checklist
Try to read more than once. Focus on looking for a particular kind of issue, such as punctuation problems.
Read slowly (and don't trust Microsoft).
Ask a friend to review

Common Issues

it's (If it is not between quotation marks, then what is its place in formal writing? Think about it.)
there / they're / their
academicus inflatus rhetoricus and its omicron variant, philo-thesuarus syndrome
… is … is …. are ….. is ….. were ….is ….is …
“myself” as a subject or object pronoun. What happened to I and me?
“Him”/“Her” as a subject pronoun. (This seems to be a Western PA thing. “Him and Joe are fixin to go home and watch the Stillers n'at.”

Checklist for Peer Editing

A grammar handbook or a reliable website like the Purdue Owl is a necessary resource for all writers when it comes to questions of style, grammar, and mechanics.

1. Grammatical & Effective Sentences

Choppy sentences ¹⁾ ; fix through subordination²⁾. Choppy example and fix
Shifts in verb tense³⁾ (e.g. past to present) or point of view ⁴⁾.
Dangling or misplaced modifiers ⁵⁾(e.g. While walking the dog, he bit a stranger).
Agreement: subject/verb ⁶⁾ (e.g. We goes. . .–> We go …) & pronoun/antecedent (e.g. A student studies so that they succeed –> Students study ….) politics of gender and number
Comma splices and fused sentences (a.k.a. run-on sentences)⁷⁾; Sentence fragments ⁸⁾.

2. Word Choice

(General rule of thumb. You have to work hard in formal writing. Don't take any short-cuts. )

Tone is academic⁹⁾: formal¹⁰⁾, appropriate to audience and purpose¹¹⁾. Avoid frequent repetitions of “I,” “I feel that,” and “in my opinion.”
Wordy sentences ¹²⁾; fix by cutting unnecessary words/phrases
Passive voice ¹³⁾ (e.g. NOT: It is believed by certain snobs that many people do not speak proper English. BUT: Certain snobs believe that ….) And if you have trouble identifying passive voice, just quit using “is!” Always. Really. I've never met a sentence that couldn't do with a better verb, the bonus: variation and precision.
Standard usage/spelling¹⁴⁾; avoid contractions (isn't, it's, etc.), abbreviations (fem., 19th, etc.), errors (e.g. its/it's, affect/effect, alot, can not/cannot etc.) and other habits inappropriate to formal writing.

3. Punctuation

Commas (missing) or (unnecessary) ¹⁵⁾
Apostrophes (excessive or misued) ¹⁶⁾;
Confusion of comma with semicolon (;) ¹⁷⁾ or colon (:)¹⁸⁾
Quotation marks and proper “MLA parenthetical citation format” (Gibaldi 123). ¹⁹⁾

4. Format - Follow MLA Guidelines

MLA Format MLA Format and Sample Paper

Margins 1 inch only, on all sides; last name and page number in the top-right corner of all pages after the first.
The font size is 12-points and the style a normal, readable choice like Times Roman, Courier, or Book Antigua.
First page: name, course, and date appear in the upper left; an original title follows, horizontally centered.
Lines are double-spaced throughout, with no extra spaces between paragraphs or separating quotations. New paragraphs are indented 5-spaces (1/2 inch) and block quotations 10-spaces (1 inch).

Note: I hope the double-spacing convention goes away. Is it easier to read on screen? Does anyone print books that way? The anachronistic rule dates to a time when teachers or editors needed to pencil corrections in the white space. If you upload our paper single-spaced, I will not be unhappy; few teachers are quite as progressive as I am on this count though!

See Purdue Owl for further explanation of these issues. Search Purdue Owl

¹⁾

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/sentence_variety/for_short_choppy_sentences.html

²⁾

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000377.htm

³⁾

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/verb_tenses/verb_tense_consistency.html

⁴⁾

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/pronouns/index.html

⁵⁾

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/dangling_modifiers_and_how_to_correct_them.html

⁶⁾