Once you’ve completed your final draft, there’s one more important step: proofreading. This is where we check for silly grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and the like. There are a few basic steps we can take for proofreading:

1. Read the paper aloud slowly, with your finger under each word as you read. Reading aloud will make you notice mistakes you’d correct in your head if you read silently.
2. Read the paper backwards. Reading backwards forces you to look at each word as an isolated word. This will help find mistakes with homonyms.
3. Wait a few days after finishing a final draft. As with point two, this will help you avoid unconsciously self-correcting.