proofread essay for free

• Grammar & Spelling Check
• Free Online Proofreading
• Plagiarism Detection
• No Downloads

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Grammar Check

Robust grammar checking allows you to find those pesky mistakes and correct them before turning in your paper.

Writing Suggestions

Our proofreading system alerts you to opportunities to improve your writing.

Plagiarism Checking

Find out if your paper contains plagiarized text before your professor does. We compare your text to over 10 billion documents.

Proofread your writing with PaperRater’s free online grammar and plagiarism checkers

Requiring no downloads, the proofreader and plagiarism checker use AI to scan your essays and papers for any errors and assign them an automated score. This will help you correct any grammatical and spelling mistakes, address unintentional instances of plagiarism and earn a higher grade for your work.

Simply copy and paste your writing into the online editor or upload your file and click ‘Get Report’!

Grammar and Writing Resources

Confused about what a subordinate clause is? Or baffled by the difference between traveled and travelled ? Clear your doubts related to grammar, spelling and writing with these detailed articles and explanations:

Which is Correct, ‘Laying’ or ‘Lying’?

What are Participle Phrases and How to Use Them

An Introduction to British Slang Words

‘Ax’ vs. ‘Axe’

Lists of Adjectives Categorized by Types of Nouns

What is the Difference Between ‘Co-Worker’ and ‘Coworker’?

How Do You Spell ‘Separated’?

‘Fliers’ vs. ‘Flyers’

Immediate Results

You want instant gratification and so do we. Using Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, submissions are analyzed in real-time with results typically appearing 5-15 seconds after submission. PaperRater’s cloud-based software digs deep into the syntax and structure of your text without the need to sign up, login, or download. You won't find another tool offering plagiarism checking, automated proofreading, grammar check, and automated scoring that can analyze your text this quickly.

Is Feedback Missing From Your Feedback Loop?

The best time to receive feedback is before you turn your assignment in. Sometimes valuable feedback comes too late, which is why our automated proofreading tool can be especially helpful -- not just for detecting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, but also for giving helpful tips that make you a better writer. Our AI engine, Grendel , works tirelessly providing feedback that you can incorporate into your text before you pass it on for a final grade from a human.

We use this word a lot to describe our service. It's fast, free, requires no downloads or signups, and offers state-of-the-art results. Maybe this is why our grammar check tool is used by thousands of students every day in over 140 countries. If you haven't put our service to the test, give it a try now and see what all the buzz is about.

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Online Proofreader

Try our other writing services

Check your entire paper at once. Try the new AI proofreader👉

Nobody's perfect all the time—and now, you don’t have to be!

There are times when you just want to write without worrying about every grammar or spelling convention. The online proofreader immediately finds all of your errors. This allows you to concentrate on the bigger picture. You’ll be 100% confident that your writing won’t affect your grade.

What does a proofreader do?

The proofreading process is your last chance to catch any errors in your writing before you submit it. A proofreader makes sure your spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors are reviewed and fixed. This can be done automatically by an AI-powered tool like the one at the top of this page or by a real human. Both options have their advantages, so pick the one that suits you most.

Fix mistakes that slip under your radar

✔ Fix problems with commonly confused words, like affect vs. effect, which vs. that and who vs. that.

✔ Catch words that sound similar but aren’t, like their vs. they’re, your vs. you’re.

✔ Check your punctuation to avoid errors with dashes and hyphens, commas, apostrophes, and more.

✔ Avoid sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement errors, and problems with parallelism.

How does the proofreader work?

The ai proofreader.

It’s really straightforward. Just paste the text into the tool. All your errors will now be underlined in red. You can hover over these mistakes to see how they can be addressed. If you agree, just click on the button “Fix all errors,” and your mistakes will be fixed instantly! 

The professional proofreader

Upload your entire document first. Choose the pages you want proofread, the extra services you want to use, and the deadline. Then fill in some key details like your field of study so that we can find you the best proofreader. When you’re done, you pay for your order, and we make sure that your writing is checked by a proofreader. You’ll be contacted when the job is done!

Who should use this proofreader?

Avoid a bad grade and hand in your documents with absolute confidence.

Businesspeople

Look like a pro by writing error-free emails, reports, and more.

Ensure your work is clear and readable to increase the chance that it’ll get published.

Want your whole document checked and corrected at once? Pick one of these two options 👇

AI proofreader

• Fixes grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes; addresses commonly confused words; and ensures consistency in dialect
• No copy-pasting: Corrections are made directly in your .docx file using Word’s track changes feature
• Near-human accuracy
• Only available for US English
• Turnaround time of a maximum of 10 minutes
• Perfect if you’re strapped for time and don’t want to spend a lot of money but would still like a thorough correction.

Human proofreader

• 100% accuracy
• All English dialects
• Turnaround times range from 12 hours to 7 days
• A human proofreader can also improve the clarity, structure, adherence to academic writing conventions, style, and tone of your text.
• Perfect if you want to get the most out of your document, would like personalized assistance, and have a larger budget.

Fantastic service!!

“Excellent review of a paper that was deciding my grade. I appreciate both the edits and the feedback to increase my knowledge of correct APA formatting and accurate citations. I needed the paper returned quickly, and the team worked hard to make sure I had what I needed. I just got my grade back, A+. I would 100% use this service again, it was worth every penny!!!!!!”

A proofreader for everyone

Don’t let typos and grammar keep you down. make your writing count, ask our team.

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

Our support team is here to help you daily via chat, WhatsApp, email, or phone between 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. CET.

Yes! Our personal statement editors can help you reduce your word count by up to 25%. You can choose to receive this feedback through direct edits or suggestions in comments – just select your choice when you upload your personal statement.

Our APA experts default to APA 7 for editing and formatting. For the Citation Editing Service you are able to choose between APA 6 and 7.

It is not necessary to reserve a time slot for your edit. As soon as your document is ready to be proofread, you can upload it at any time via our website . Based on your chosen deadline, our editor(s) will then proofread your document within 24 hours, 3 days, or 7 days.

If you are unsure about the availability of our services or are planning to upload a very large document (>13,000 words) with a 24 hour deadline, we recommend that you contact us beforehand via chat or email .

Scribbr is following the guidelines announced by the WHO (World Health Organization). As an online platform, all our services remain available, and we will continue to help students as usual.

Can I still place an order? Will my order be completed within the deadline? Yes, you can still place orders and orders will be delivered within the agreed upon deadline. Scribbr is an online platform – our proofreading & editing services are provided by editors working remotely from all over the world. This means Scribbr can guarantee that we will process your order with the same diligence and professionalism as always. The same holds true for our Plagiarism Checker .

Can I still contact customer support? Yes. Our support team is available from 09.00 to 23.00 CET and happy to answer any questions you might have!

Yes, if your document is longer than 20,000 words, you will get a sample of approximately 2,000 words. This sample edit gives you a first impression of the editor’s editing style and a chance to ask questions and give feedback.

How does the sample edit work?

You will receive the sample edit within 12 hours after placing your order. You then have 24 hours to let us know if you’re happy with the sample or if there’s something you would like the editor to do differently.

Read more about how the sample edit works

When you upload a large document (20,000+ words), we will ask your editor to send a sample edit of approximately 2,000 words as soon as possible. This sample edit gives you a first impression of your editor’s editing style and what you can expect from the service. You will receive it within 12 hours after uploading your order.

Why do we provide you with a sample edit?

We always aim to make you 100% happy, and Proofreading & Editing is a complex service. We want to make sure that our editing style meets your expectations before the editor improves your entire document.

Our editors are trained to follow Scribbr’s academic style . However, your preferences might deviate from our conventions. The sample edit gives you the chance to provide feedback – you can let us know if you’re happy with the sample or if there’s something you would like the editor to do differently.

Once your editor has completed your sample edit, you will receive a notification via email. You have 24 hours to reply to this email and provide us with feedback. If we receive your feedback in time, your editor will go the extra mile and adjust the edit according to your input.

What sort of feedback can you give?

Give us feedback that will help your editor meet your requirements. For example:

• “I am completely happy. The editor can continue editing like this.”
• “I forgot to mention that my school has the following rules for gendered pronouns.”
• “The editor changed the spelling of a technical term, but my professor spells it differently. Please keep the original spelling of this term.”

The  Structure  and Clarity Check can only be purchased in conjunction with Proofreading & Editing . Providing feedback on structure and clarity requires extensive knowledge of the text, which the editor acquires while proofreading and editing your text.

However, our Paper Formatting Service,   Citation Editing Service and Plagiarism Checker can be purchased separately.

Yes, Scribbr will proofread the summary in another language as well.

Who will proofread my summary?

If your document contains a summary in a different language, we will send this part to another editor who is a native speaker of that language. The editor will check your summary, applying our standard Proofreading & Editing service.

If you ordered any additional services, such as the Structure Check or Clarity Check, the editor will not apply them to your summary. This is because the summary is a translation of your abstract – you already receive Structure and Clarity feedback on the text in the original language. Therefore, when proofreading your summary, the editor will focus on making sure your language and style is correct.

How does it work?

We will create a new assignment within your order and send you a confirmation email. This also means that you will receive a separate email/SMS notification from us when the editor has finished proofreading your summary. Once your summary is proofread, you can download it via your Scribbr account and read the editor’s feedback.

Yes, we can provide a certificate of proofreading.

As soon as the editor delivers the edit, you can email us at [email protected] to request a certificate.

Please indicate the following in your email:

• Your order number
• Your full name
• The title of your work

We will create a PDF certificate and email it to you as soon as possible.

Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:

• PhD dissertations
• Research proposals
• Personal statements
• Admission essays
• Motivation letters
• Reflection papers
• Journal articles
• Capstone projects

Yes, when you accept all changes and delete all comments your document is ready to be handed in.

How to accept all changes:

• Word for Mac 2011

How to remove all comments:

When you’ve finished this, others will no longer be able to see the changes made by the editor.

• Read your last version one last time to make sure everything is the way you want it.
• Save your document as a .pdf file to come across more professional and to ensure the format of your document doesn’t change.

Yes, in the order process you can indicate your preference for American, British, or Australian English .

If you don’t choose one, your editor will follow the style of English you currently use. If your editor has any questions about this, we will contact you.

Yes, you can upload your thesis in sections.

We try our best to ensure that the same editor checks all the different sections of your thesis. When you upload a new file, our system recognizes you as a returning customer, and we immediately contact the editor who helped you before.

However, we cannot guarantee that the same editor will be available. Your chances are higher if

• You send us your text as soon as possible and
• You can be flexible about the deadline.

Please note that the shorter your deadline is, the bigger the risk that your previous editor is not available.

If your previous editor isn’t available, then we will inform you immediately and look for another qualified editor. Fear not! Every Scribbr editor follows the  Scribbr Improvement Model  and will deliver high-quality work.

However, every editor has a slightly different editing style, so you may notice small inconsistencies in editing choices. As with every proofreading order, be sure to carefully review your editor’s changes and suggestions as you finalize your text to ensure that everything is as you want it.

The fastest turnaround time is 12 hours.

You can upload your document at any time and choose between three deadlines:

At Scribbr, we promise to make every customer 100% happy with the service we offer. Our philosophy: Your complaint is always justified – no denial, no doubts.

Our customer support team is here to find the solution that helps you the most, whether that’s a free new edit or a refund for the service.

Every Scribbr order comes with our award-winning Proofreading & Editing service , which combines two important stages of the revision process.

For a more comprehensive edit, you can add a Structure Check or Clarity Check to your order. With these building blocks, you can customize the kind of feedback you receive.

You might be familiar with a different set of editing terms. To help you understand what you can expect at Scribbr, we created this table:

View an example

Scribbr not only specializes in proofreading and editing texts in English , but also in several other languages . This way, we help out students from all over the world.

As a global academic writing proofreading service, we work with professional editors  – all native speakers – who edit in the following languages :

This way, you can also have your academic writing proofread and edited in your second language!

Please note that we do not offer Finnish proofreading, but students can still upload English papers on scribbr.fi .

Yes, regardless of the deadline you choose, our editors can proofread your document during weekends and holidays.

Example: If you select the 12-hour service on Saturday, you will receive your edited document back within 12 hours on Sunday.

The footnotes are not automatically included in the word count.

If you want the language errors in your footnotes to be corrected by the editor, you can indicate this in step 3 of the upload process . The words in the footnotes are then automatically added to the total word count.

Need help with your references?

• If you use the APA reference style, you can use our free APA Citation Generator or the articles about APA in our Knowledge Base.
• If you’d like us to check your references for consistency, you can use our Citation Editing Service .

To keep our prices competitive, we do not offer a free trial edit. However, if your document is longer than 30,000 words, we are happy to provide you with a sample edit of 2,000 words to ensure you are satisfied with the editor’s editing style.

Rest assured, our customers are very satisfied with our proofreading services. We’re proud that they have rated us with an excellent 4.6 on Trustpilot. In the unlikely event that you have a less positive experience, we’ll solve that with our 100% happiness guarantee !

After your thesis has been edited , you will receive an email with a link to download the edited document.

The editor has made changes to your document using ‘ Track Changes ’ in Word.  This means that you only have to accept or ignore the changes that are made in the text one by one.

It is also possible to accept all changes at once. However, we strongly advise you not to do so for the following reasons:

• You can learn much by looking at what mistakes you have made.
• The editors do not only change the text, they also place comments when sentences or sometimes even entire paragraphs are unclear. We therefore advise you to read through these comments and take into account your editor’s tips and suggestions.
• Because of the many changes, sometimes there may be double spaces, double periods, or other minor mistakes in a sentence. Checking the changes one by one, you can easily detect these minor errors.

We have written a manual in which we explain step by step how ‘Track Changes’ works.

Check out an example

Our editors are very experienced and will do their utmost to correct all errors in your thesis .

However, with our current rates, an editor can only check your thesis once. This may cause an editor to overlook an error. We can therefore not guarantee that your thesis is 100% error free after you have had your thesis edited.

The editor uses ‘Track Changes’ in Word when editing your thesis.

Don’t know how this works? Then read the following guide  in which we explain step by step how ‘Track Changes’ works.

No, we do not provide you with a clean copy. You will always receive a file edited with tracked changes .

We do this for two main reasons:

• In most papers, there are sentences that the editor cannot edit without additional information from the author. In these cases, your editor will provide guidance but leave you to implement the feedback. If we were to simply accept the changes for you, then these issues would be left unaddressed.
• We believe students should be accountable for their work. Our editors can correct language errors and coach you to be a better writer. However, the end product belongs to you and should reflect your ideas and decisions.

All Scribbr editors are language experts with interests in different subject areas.

You can indicate your field of study when you upload your document . We’ll make sure that the editor who proofreads your work is familiar with your discipline and its specialist vocabulary.

These are the fields of study you can choose from, and examples of the main subjects in each field:

• Business and Management: Business Administration, Hotel Management, Accountancy, Marketing
• Economics: Business Economics, Econometrics, Finance
• IT and Engineering: ICT, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Applied Mathematics, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, Electrical Engineering
• Natural and Life Sciences: Biomedical Sciences, Biology, Chemistry
• Geography, Agriculture and Environment: Ecology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, Urban Planning
• Health and Medical Sciences: Medicine, Obstetrics, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Dentistry
• Arts and Humanities: Philosophy, History, Literature, Cultural Studies, Theology
• Law and Policy: Law, Political Science, Public Policy, Human Rights
• Social and Behavioral Sciences: Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Sciences

Editors don’t have to be experts in the content of your paper, but they do know how to present it in the best way possible! Our goal is to improve your writing and give you feedback on the readability, structure, logic, and clarity of your text. We know from experience that the most effective editors are specialists in language and academic writing.

We’ve carefully selected and trained all of our editors to proofread theses and other academic documents. Once they’re qualified, we continue to carefully monitor their work to make sure we always deliver the highest quality .

Slick Write

Check your grammar in seconds.

Slick Write is a powerful, free application that makes it easy to check your writing for grammar errors, potential stylistic mistakes, and other features of interest. Whether you're a blogger, novelist, SEO professional, or student writing an essay for school, Slick Write can help take your writing to the next level. Curious? See why Slick Write is the best. Try the interactive demo , or check your own document . No software download or installation is required.

Why Slick Write?

The grammar checker is lightning fast

Customizable feedback to suit your style

We do not redistribute your documents

Add impact to reports

Improve your grades

Engage your audience

Inspire confidence

English is a difficult language, so using correct grammar and diverse vocabulary will set you apart from the crowd. Using good sentence structure and wording improves your content's impact and readability while building your readers' trust. Slick Write goes beyond spell checking to teach you the habits of effective writers. How does your writing rate?

Improve your resumé

The job market is competitive. Gain an advantage, impress employers, and land more interviews by demonstrating professionalism and superior communication skills on your resumé.

Get the extensions

Using an extension is the easiest way to submit your work to Slick Write. They are available for Chrome and Firefox .

Bust your writer's block, and create new metaphors by playing the word association game . To begin, type a word or phrase in the box below, and hit enter. To quickly find associations for your own text, highlight a word or phrase in it, and use the toolbox popup.

The associator learns contextual word associations from real literature, so it may return offensive results.

Results for:

I know what I'm doing. Disable these hints.

• Submission Limit There is a limit of 200,000 characters, which is approximately 30,000 words. Anything longer should be submitted in smaller chunks, or it will be automatically trimmed.
• No document It looks like you forgot to enter your document. Paste it in and try again.
• Structure This tab shows sentence structure within the context of the document. Hover over a sentence to see its word count. Select a word or phrase, or click a sentence to get more information.
• Quotes This tab shows your quotations highlighted as Slick Write sees them.

More information »

• Sentence type flow Pieces with good flow will make use of all four sentence types, varying them to keep the reader interested.
• Sentence length flow Sentence length is indirectly related to sentence type, and is a good indicator of flow. Flow can be altered by adding, removing, lengthening, shortening, combining, or splitting sentences. Long sentences will be indicated by a red line on the graph. Sentences that flow poorly with their surroundings will be orange, and the source of the problem can often be found in a nearby sentence.
• Word length flow Word length is a minor contributor to overall flow, but even minor variations are signs of good rhythm.
• Passive Voice Index This is a measure of how frequently the passive voice is used. Consider revising your document if it scores over 100.
• Prepositional Phrase Index This is a measure of how frequently prepositional phrases are used. Consider revising your document if it scores over 100.
• Average sentence length Sentence length is a major contributor to the level of education required to read a body of text.
• Sentence length standard deviation This is a measure of the amount of variation in the length of a text's sentences. In texts that have broad appeal, this tends to fall between 50 and 90% of the average sentence length. You can increase this number by making long sentences longer, and short ones shorter.
• Sentence deviation to length ratio This is a measure of the sentence variety, and a major contributor to flow. Most novels score between 0.5 and 0.9, and popular ones often score near the high end of the range. You can increase this number by making long sentences longer, and short ones shorter.
• Just the stats preset Use this preset when you're only interested in the stats tab. Critique and Flow will be hidden.
• Honesty preset This preset checks for common indicators of deception, either by lying or omission, and is based on the findings of this study . Areas with high concentrations of these indicators should be viewed with skepticism. Note that the presence or absence of these indicators does not guarantee that a statement is true or false, and that the study was done on spoken communications, so it might be more applicable to interviews and speeches. As always, use your brain.
• Doubled words A word used twice in a row may be a typo.
• Commonly confused words This will check for the internet's most frequently confused words and notify you if it looks like you misused one. It is experimental and probably the least reliable feature. Consult a dictionary when necessary.
• Sentences starting with the same word A word should not be used to start more than one sentence in a single paragraph.
• Misplaced conjunctions It is considered poor style to place coordinating conjunctions at either end of a sentence. Placing a subordinating conjunction at the end of a sentence is against the rules.

It is said that one day, passive voice will bring weakness to your prose.

More information » Even more information »

• Overwriting Words like "very" and "really" make sentences wordier and weaken your message. These can be deleted in almost all cases without affecting the meaning of the sentence.
• Abstract words Abstract words lack specificity and overusing them can make even simple concepts difficult to understand. There are times when abstract words are desirable or even necessary; it would be difficult to write about math or programming without mentioning variables or functions, but you should use more specific terms whenever possible.
• Wordy and redundant phrases These phrases make your writing more difficult to understand. In most cases, they can be replaced with one or two words, or even deleted.
• Legalese These antiquated, arcane words and phrases will make your writing look like a contract.
• Double negatives Double negatives are almost always poor style.
• Adverbs They aren't bad in small quantities, but consider revising your document if more than 5.5% of its words are adverbs. Adverbs ending in "-ly" are considered the worst offenders.
• Adjectives They aren't bad in small quantities. A few of the words on this list can also function as other parts of speech. You have been warned.
• Contractions In formal writing, the use of contractions is considered a fault.

The boxer decked his opponent.

• Profanity Profanity should not be used in formal writing outside of direct quotations.

The critic's scathing review hit the nail on the head .

• Similes Similes and metaphors should be used sparingly. This option will detect most common types of similes.
• "Said" replacements Some people think that these substitutes for "said" are weak or obnoxious, especially if overused.

Her dress was long , and it touched the floor.

Her long dress touched the floor.

• Gender-specific pronouns Avoid using gender-specific pronouns in formal writing when the subject's gender is unknown.
• Weasel words Like abstract words, weasel words and phrases lack specificity. At best, they convey uncertainty. At worst, they can be used to "weasel out" of telling the truth in a straightforward manner. When checking a document that is speculative by nature, you might want to disable this detector.
• Third person pronouns According to this study , high concentrations of third person pronouns may indicate deception.
• Bias language These words and phrases often show the author's bias.
• Uncommon words Uncommon words will increase the document's reading difficulty.

Hot peppers burn my mouth, but I eat them anyway .

Since burritos taste good , I like to eat them.

• Sentence fragments A sentence must have at least one noun and one verb. Anything that does not is a fragment, and if it occurs outside of dialog, it should probably be rewritten.
• Long sentences Long sentences tend to be more difficult to read, making them good candidates for trimming or splitting. Alternatively, parallelism may be used to improve their readability, though this will not decrease the ARI score.
• Success with Style: Using Writing Style to Predict the Success of Novels
• Grammar Girl For your obscure writing questions
• Basic Prose and Style Mechanics An excellent, concise resource
• Television Tropes & Idioms Tricks of the trade
• Writing Realistic Injuries An invaluable article for anyone who writes action or horror
• Online Etymology Dictionary Learn the history of English words
• Scribophile Discuss the finer points of writing with other novelists
• Suggestions from the official See Sharp Press blog Learn about the mistakes that will keep your novel from being published.
• Smashwords Easy ebook distribution for indie authors
• Duotrope Find and learn about publishers
• CreateSpace
• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Creative Writing Prompts and Exercises Spark your creativity
• RhymeZone A popular rhyming dictionary
• Seventh Sanctum Name generators and more
• Apache OpenOffice The best free office software
• Literature & Latte Makers of the popular Scrivener editor

Did you find a bug? Do you want us to add a new feature? We would love to hear about it.

Proofreading

The ultimate proofreading tool and guide.

What Is Proofreading?

Make proofreading online easier, what are proofreading marks.

Try Our Free Proofreading Tool

• Tone and clarity insights
• Tips on how to engage readers
• Word choice and inclusive language guidance
• Step 1 : Add your text, and Grammarly will underline any issues.
• Step 2 : Hover over the underlines to see suggestions.
• Step 3 : Click a suggestion to accept it.

Access to Writing Experts

Proofreading How-To Guide

Proofreading and Editing

Grammar and Syntax

Punctuation and Spelling

Frequently asked questions, what is the meaning of proofreading, why is proofreading important in writing, what are proofreading marks, and what do they mean, what is the role of a proofreader, what are some common proofreading mistakes, what is a helpful, free online proofreading tool, how can i find professional proofreading services.

• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Grammar Check
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Spell Check

Proofreading

• Word Counter
• Character Count
• Random Number Generator
• Remove Line Breaks
• Image to Text
• Morse Code Translator
• Random Word Generator
• Word Unscrambler
• Word Finder
• Anagram Solver

Proofreading Tool

Proofread your papers with a proofreading tool.

Please type your text here..

Proofreading Tool - Essay Checker & Proofreader | Grammica

Essay Checker  

Our Professional proofreading tool provides you free essay proofreading services. It proofread your papers without grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Essay checker Proofread your papers or essays using our advanced grammar check, spell check, and punctuation checker. It also covers all general mistakes such as writing style errors, misused words, typographical errors, spelling, and grammatical errors in just a few simple steps. 

Our professional grammar check software supports English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Tagalog, Swedish, Austrian, Belarusian, Breton, Catalan, Danish, Esperanto, Galician, German, Greek, Khmer, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Tamil, Ukrainian, etc. You need to enter or copy-paste your text into the provided box, then click "Check Text." Our essay checker scans your text and highlights potential errors with different colors based on the type of error. Click on the error word to learn more about it and how to fix it. If you disagree with our recommendation, click Ignore.

Essay Proofreader  

Professional online editing and proofreading services proofread your research papers more precisely so that no standard grammar rule will be ignored. It suggests alternate grammar prediction words to fix spelling and grammar mistakes. We offer grammar check, spell check, and punctuation checker that makes your essay error-free. Online proofreader supports English grammar, Spanish grammar, French grammar, Chinese grammar, Japanese grammar, Russian grammar, and more than 20 other languages.

Our free automated proofreading software is programmed to proofread your research papers or blog posts precisely with in-depth analysis. We use advanced data processing algorithm technology to ensure that every grammar rule is taken to account while checking. We have a large vocabulary database that can help you fix your spelling and grammar mistakes by suggesting English words and phrases. Our grammar and spell check will detect writing style errors, misused words, spelling errors, and grammar mistakes that other simple sentence checker tools will not detect.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is proofreading.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, it is a process of detecting and correcting errors in your text before it is published. If you are a content writer or blogger, then you know content is king. If you want to survive, you need to write high-quality content. We developed our online essay proofreader to identify spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax errors in your essay. We suggest fixing those errors by providing grammar suggested words from our huge English word database.

Why is proofreading so important?

The final stage of editing before publication is known as proofreading. It is an essential part of an editorial cycle. Any publications center will go through the proofreading stage before they publish it. In this stage, you need to find and resolve grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, typographical errors, and style guide formats errors.

What are the benefits of proofreading?

The Online professional proofreading and editing tool is a web-based application. It is highly secure with SSL encrypted connection. Once you paste your text into an online proofreading service, it will scan your text in real-time. We have a sophisticated error detection and correction algorithm that compares every word of your article and provides an error-free final version.

It is useful for teachers, students, bloggers, and content writers. It is one of the best ways to learn how to avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly. It improves your writing skills and provides error-free content. We optimize our applications for many browsers and devices. We have millions of happy customers all over the world.

How does the proofreading tool work?

Follow below easy steps to use the tool:

1.  Open Proofreading Tool

2. Write or Copy-paste your essay or research paper. Choose American English or Australian English or Canada etc country language that you want to check your text. We support checking English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and more than 28 other languages. 

3. Click on “Check Text” then an online proofreader will scan your entire text and highlight your grammar and spelling mistakes with a different color.

4. Click on the highlighted word to get grammar suggested words to fix the error.

How to proofread professionally?

Our free proofreading online tool is easy to use and we requires no additional software installation. We build our essay checker with advanced sentence correction technology that suggests multiple suggestions to fix your errors. Our essay proofreader is trusted by teachers, students, writers, and bloggers all over the world. We make your content SEO-friendly, plagiarism-free.

If you are seriously facing spelling and grammar problems for your papers, you have taken the right decision by choosing our tool. Our automated proofreading tool error detection and correction mechanism will help to solve your grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and syntax errors.

What other tools grammica offer?

Grammica.com offers not only a grammar checking service and also offers Proofreading, Spinbot, Word counter, Paraphrasing tool, and a lot more text-related tools. These tools are useful for students, writers, bloggers, and teachers. We designed our tools professionally to give you accurate results, and we are trusted all over the world.

Instructions :

1. Enter or Paste your text into the box provided.

2. Select a country language that you wish to check.

3. Click "Check Text" to begin the proofreading process.

4. Proofreader identifies grammar and spelling mistakes in your essay.

5. The advanced error correction algorithm suggests multiple words to fix the error.

1. The advanced error correction algorithm suggests multiple words to fix the error

2. It has a unique approach to identify and rectify errors.

3. proofreader software is highly secure & optimized for high speed.

4. It is compatible with modern devices and browsers all over the world.

5. No additional software installation and registration required.

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In addition to basic proofreading, ProWritingAid has over 25 tailored reports to help improve your writing.

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We seamlessly integrate across all the apps you use, whether they’re on the desktop or online.

Proofreader FAQs

1. does prowritingaid autocorrect.

ProWritingAid provides recommendations so you can identify and correct writing errors. You have complete control over whether to accept or ignore these suggestions.

2. Can I proofread emails and social media posts?

Yes. As a matter of fact, ProWritingAid's browser extensions work across almost all websites and online apps, including Gmail, LinkedIn, and Google Docs.

3. How can ProWritingAid help?

ProWritingAid helps with a variety of writing tasks. It corrects grammar, spelling, and punctuation, while also enhancing vocabulary variety and more.

4. Is ProWritingAid free?

A free account allows you to edit up to 500 words at a time. If you want to edit larger documents, upgrading is necessary. You can find more information on our pricing page .

5. Can ProWritingAid paraphrase?

Yes! You can rewrite sentences with a single click using Rephrase. See multiple options to reword any sentence.

2. Does ProWritingAid have a plagiarism checker?

Yes! ProWritingAid’s plagiarism checker will check your work against over a billion webpages, published works, and academic papers, so you can be sure of its originality. Find out more about pricing for plagiarism checks here .

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Publish confidently by proofreading to perfection

“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.” — Patricia Fuller

We’re pretty open-minded, but we generally recommend that writing be at least partially dressed before sharing it with the world.

Now that just about everyone is a writer, just about everyone is a proofreader too, when you think about it. Which is why we believe now is the time to get clear about what exactly proofreading entails in our modern world.

What is proofreading?

Proofreading refers to carefully checking for writing and formatting errors in a text before it’s published. It’s the final step in making sure a piece of writing is as close to “perfect” as possible by double-checking for punctuation and spelling errors, typos, and any inconsistencies. The most important purpose of writing is to communicate your thoughts effectively. This, however, is better suited for the editing phase, not the proofreading phase. While proofreaders will check for clarity in consistency, they’re more focused on minor errors that may have slipped through. When you proofread, you evaluate the content in what will be its final, published form, or a proof. (Get it now?) Proofreaders look at more than just the words — they’re scanning for any formatting errors as well. Proofreading marks are either made on paper, or in comments and digital notes in Google Docs and word processing software, to alert the writer of suggested corrections within a document. There are both US and UK English conventions for proofreading. The final step of any personal or business writing process, proofreading is the process of identifying and correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.

The difference between proofreading and editing

It’s important to note that proofreading and editing are not the same. Editing involves a different skill set and is usually more time-consuming. Though there are various stages to the entire editing process, copy editing and proofreading are the two most common. Coincidentally, they’re also the two that get mixed up the most. Though developmental, structural, and line editing all deserve their time and place , they’re seen less frequently in the world of digital content creation. These parts of the editing process are better reserved for lengthier works, such as books, investigative journalism, essays, instructional works, and magazine articles. The terms copy editing and proofreading are often used interchangeably by those not familiar with the space. These two are not the same, though, and it’s crucial to be aware of their differences if you’re anyone working with written content.

Copy editing Copy editing takes place before proofreading and involves a more thorough shake down of the content at hand. Copy editors will look for things such as readability, grammar, spelling, style, syntax, and punctuation depending on what style guide they’re following. In this stage of the editing process, it’s okay to offer revisions that will require additional writing.

Examples of what a copy editor might comment: Point out wordy sentences, suggest change in word choice, fix punctuation marks in a sentence.

Proofreading Proofreading occurs after copy editing. Though proofreaders look for grammar and punctuation, they’re also focused on the overall formatting of the piece. They’re the last set of eyes before publication, so it’s their job to ensure the text is as close to perfect as it can get. No drastic changes will happen here — that’s the job of all the editors who came before.

Examples of what a proofreader might comment: Fix bad line breaks, change improper punctuation, point out incorrect page numbers.

How to proofread

Traditionally, proofreading is meant to be a relatively rapid and focused process of making sure writing is free of minor errors, such as typos that may have occurred during a more rigorous round of editing. For online publishing and blogging — which often includes transferring of content from a word processing document to a CMS (content management system) — proofreading includes making sure that formatting is correct. Adhering to a style guide — whether that be the Associated Press Stylebook , Chicago Manual of Style , or your own — is another vital part of the process. Consistency is key, and proofreaders need to be aware of what rules to follow for the given copy.

Common things to double-check when proofreading

• Links function properly and direct readers to the right pages
• Words — especially names and organizations — are spelled correctly
• Formatting appears as it was intended — bolds, italics, indentations, new paragraphs, and fonts are correct
• Proper punctuation is used throughout
• Capitalization is correct
• No “bad breaks,” such as widows or orphans
• Helpful information such as an FAQ section exists
• Consistent tenses throughout the piece
• No subject-verb agreement issues
• Headline or email subject is clear
• Citations match the brand style guide
• No misplaced or misused commas
• Voice and style are consistent throughout

When is the best time to proofread text?

The best time to proofread is during every project’s final stage, after revisions are done and copy editing has been completed. Proofreading is the last step. If you’re wondering what time is the best, we advise after morning coffee and before your deadline. Because the proofreading process is intended to be the final step before publishing or hitting “send,” the changes should be relatively minor — meaning, catching typos or errors that may have slipped by. In other words, proofreading is not the phase where you should be completely reworking a paragraph or changing the direction of your main points. Proofreading is not the time to decide that you’ve changed your stance on an important topic — that kind of change should happen during the initial planning, thesis-writing, or outline phase of your writing. In this stage, you also shouldn’t completely overhaul a piece of writing from, say, a 1,500-word blog post to a 3,000-word help article. That work should have been done during the developmental editing phase.

Top proofreading techniques and tricks

Ask someone else to proofread for you Get a pair of fresh eyes on your writing. After spending so much time on your work, you’ll be apt to accidentally glaze over errors and typographical errors. It’s like a crooked painting in your house — you don’t notice it until someone else points it out. If you have to proofread your own work, step away Close your document, shut down your computer, and take a break from staring at the screen for a few hours (the longer, the better). Go for a walk, sip some coffee, and you’ll have a fresher set of eyes when you return. Focus on one thing at a time When you’re on high-alert for every type of proofing error, it’s easier to miss some mistakes. Instead, try combing a paper only for punctuation, then again for spelling mistakes, and so on. Come back to it if you’re tired Don’t ever try to proofread at the end of the day when your attention span is nil, and all you want to do is sleep. Sleep on it and try again in the morning. Proofreading with a set of sleepy eyes is as good as not proofreading at all. Print it out Editing a hard copy — and not a digital one — will help you see your writing from a different perspective. It feels different, and putting pen to paper feels more substantive and also satisfying. Read it out loud Reading your own writing out loud is a great way to catch any misspelled words or wonky sentences you might’ve missed before. While it might feel funny at first, you’ll find yourself noticing things such as run-on sentences that you wouldn’t have otherwise when reading it silently. Allot two days to proofread Ideally, proofreading should happen at least two days before a deadline. This ensures that you’ll have enough time to implement changes with one more round of proofing to come. Take into consideration the length of your writing — the longer it is, the longer proofing will take. Use an AI proofreading tool You can use an AI writing assistant to help with proofreading digital content. Nowadays, the top ones on the market are programmed to catch spelling, grammatical errors, and some even help you adhere to your style guide . For example, Writer uses AI to catch and correct common writing mistakes — as well as ones personal to your company’s style guide — and ensure your text is ready to share. Proofreading example Editors and professional proofreaders usually check a printed “proof copy” of the text and make corrections using specialized marks. In the digital realm, proofreaders work with AI writing assistants. Most of these online proofreading and editing services also include plagiarism checkers to identify duplicate content on the web and provide an efficient solution for the publication.

Improve your proofreading skills with Writer

With edits occurring more frequently in the “tracked changes” on Microsoft Word or in suggestions on shared Google Docs, proofreaders find themselves doing their job digitally. And in a world flooded with copy and content, it’s crucial to ensure your words stand out, for all the right reasons. Writer is much more than just a spell check — think of it as your very own professional proofreader. And if you’re looking to implement language and content consistency company-wide, Writer has that too. Take your proofreading up a notch by publishing a living, breathing style guide that Writer implements almost anywhere you produce copy. With terminology management , custom writing style rules, snippets, and more, you don’t ever have to worry about your content being flooded with errors.

Illustration by Daniel Zender

Level-up your writing with Writer, your very own proofreader.

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Free Proofreading Sample

Try our proofreading services for free.

Deciding to try a proofreading service can feel like a risk. After all, you may have put many hours and a lot of energy into your writing – you need to know the person proofreading it has an eye for detail and an understanding of how to make your writing shine.

That’s why we’ll proofread your first 500 words absolutely free – just enter the code 500FREE when you upload your first document. With this free sample, you’ll get a better idea of what our proofreading service involves, so you can decide if it’s right for you.

How The Free Sample Works

The 500FREE code can be used in two ways:

• You can upload a document of 500 words or less, redeem the code, and we’ll proofread your writing at no cost or obligation to you. 
• You can upload a document larger than 500 words, redeem the code, and the cost of 500 words will be discounted from the total price.

Simply pick the option that works best for you.

Choose The Perfect Proofreader

Browse our editor profiles to learn more about each proofreader’s education, experience, and areas of expertise. Once you’ve found the perfect proofreader for your work, you can make a request for them to proofread your free sample.

After you review the completed free sample, if you’re happy with the work, let us know. We’ll then ensure that the same proofreader works on all of your documents.

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing

A Dedicated Team Of Expert Editors Working 24/7, 365 Days A Year

We pair you with the perfect editor based on your document type and subject matter. This means you’re always matched with an editor who understands how to optimise your writing.

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How We Work

Lightning-fast delivery.

You’ll never miss a deadline with our speedy services: our Next-Day Guarantee means we’ll return any document up to 8,000 words long within 24 hours.

And if you need a faster turnaround, simply select your desired delivery speed when you submit your document. We have three options:

We can also meet custom deadlines! Just let us know what you need. 

* For documents up to 8,000 words

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Great Pricing

Our pricing is affordable and transparent – the cost is based on the exact length of your document. Check out our pricing calculator for an instant quote, and rest assured that you’ll receive the highest quality proofreading and editing for the best value on the market.

All Major Formats

Our system supports over 15 document formats, making it easy to submit content for proofreading and editing. Click the link below to find out more about how we’ll work with your document.

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Subject-Matter Experts

Our team of over 750 professional editors includes experts on thousands of topics. As a result, we can pair you with the perfect proofreader for your writing, no matter the subject.

24-Hour Support

Our support team is available around the clock to address any concerns or questions you have about your order. This means you’ll never be left in the dark, no matter where you are or what time it is.

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Looking For The Perfect Proofreader?

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Strengthen your writing

Give your paper an in-depth check. Receive feedback within 48 hours from writing experts on your paper's main idea, structure, conclusion, and more.

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Don't lose points over small mistakes. Our smart proofreader checks for grammar and writing mistakes so that you don't have to.

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What students are saying about us

"Caught comma errors that I actually struggle with even after proofreading myself."

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"I find the suggestions to be extremely helpful especially as they can instantly take you to that section in your paper for you to fix any and all issues related to the grammar or spelling error(s)."

- Catherine R.

Clean up your writing and fix mistakes with EasyBib online proofreading tools

It doesn’t matter if you’re a writing superstar or a beginner learning the basics—everyone can benefit from good proofreading.

• Begin by uploading your paper to the proofreading tool to start an automatic scan for spelling and grammatical errors you may have missed. You’ll also receive suggestions to help streamline your writing.
• For important papers that need extra attention, submit your drafts to Expert Check for personalized feedback from a writing expert.
• Finally, try the automatic plagiarism check for help with catching missing citations and accidental plagiarism.

Using these online proofreading services can help you build your best paper possible.

What do online proofreading tools do? 

Simple  online spell checkers only search for basic mistakes. Online proofreading tools go further. An initial EasyBib proofreading scan can catch complex errors like:

• Subject-verb disagreement
• Punctuation errors
• Sentence fragments
• Missing commas
• Run-on sentences
• Misused pronouns
• Word choice errors

Once your proofreading scan is complete, you review each card to see what error was found, an explanation of why it was flagged, and suggestions on how to correct it. This helps ensure that you understand and learn from the suggestion as you edit and improve your paper .

Custom feedback from experts 

Online tools are a great resource, but they can’t do it all. English is a tricky language, and sometimes, these tools can’t give you all the answers you need. To provide the specific feedback you need in those cases, there’s Expert Check from EasyBib Plus.

Expert Check provides a personalized, in-depth review of your writing by a live, professional proofreader. You can submit a paper at any time to receive detailed feedback on elements like:

• Development
• Organization
• …and other components

You’ll be given scores on these different elements, explanations of what was great, and suggestions on how to revise any areas that could be improved. It only takes  48 hours to submit a paper and receive a detailed proofreading report.  An EasyBib Plus subscription includes up to 15 Expert Checks each month.

Using Expert Check and the automatic EasyBib proofreading tool can save you time and help you turn in your best paper!

Why should I get my paper proofread? 

People may overlook an occasional typo or grammatical error in a casual text or email, but in academic writing, the standards are much higher. Small mistakes can affect your academic career in a big way.

College instructors expect your work to be clear, concise, and technically correct. That’s why proofreading is so important.

• Unclear, poorly written work sends a message that you aren’t giving your classwork your best effort.
• Technical errors can even send the message that you’re not ready for college-level work.
• Work that is perceived as rough will likely get low marks, affecting your class grade.

As a result, bad writing can cause your grades and your academic reputation to suffer. If you’re hoping for internships, mentorships, or letters of recommendation, turning in poorly done work can lead to losing out on valuable opportunities.

There’s no doubt that papers take a lot of effort to write. A stellar essay requires a plan, an outline, and research. No wonder so many of us feel burned out when a first draft is finished. It’s tempting to immediately submit an essay as soon as it’s finished so you can forget about it. However, taking a moment to do some proofreading can be a literal grade saver.

Luckily, you can do an online check of your paper using EasyBib proofreading tools.

Why use EasyBib online proofreading tools? 

Having a resource such as the EasyBib proofreading tool is like having a personal tutor you can carry in your pocket. It’s available to help with checking your paper any time of the day or night.

It will also give you honest, helpful feedback without any judgement. Best of all, you can rely on EasyBib proofreading tools over and over again—there’s no limit to how many papers or revised drafts you submit.

Here’s a summary of everything EasyBib proofreading tools can do:

• Look for 400+ of the most common grammatical errors.
• Check your paper day or night.
• Allow you to upload an unlimited number of papers.
• Look beyond typos to find ways to improve your paper’s writing flow and style.
• Provide feedback that is judgement free.

Help! It’s not just proofreading, I’m also terrible at citing sources.

If you struggle with citations, you’re not alone. Citing sources is often students’ least favorite task. But, failing to cite your sources properly can damage your paper’s credibility. It can even lead to getting your essay flagged for plagiarism.

The EasyBib proofreading tool also has an option to  scan your paper for unintentional plagiarism . If there is duplicate text online, the tool points it out for you to rewrite or to cite it as a direct quote. There are also EasyBib citation tools that can help you create in-text citations and build your reference or works cited page.

I’m a student on a budget. I can’t afford a personal tutor or private proofreader. What are my options? 

If you need a final proofread before you submit your essay but don’t want to look through a freelance marketplace, a subscription to EasyBib Plus can help. It’s free to upload a paper to the online proofreading tool, and the first five suggested grammar corrections are available for free.

EasyBib Plus also offers  online plagiarism scans and Expert Check proofreading by a professional proofreader. In summary, a subscription to EasyBib Plus unlocks a full suite of proofreading tools to help you turn in an error-free paper every time. You can sign up for a free 3-day trial or enroll in a low-cost monthly subscription. *

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What’s the bottom line when it comes to proofreading? 

Proofreading is an important part of the writing process. Spelling and grammatical errors can tank your grade and put your GPA at risk. Unintentional plagiarism can destroy your academic career. Don’t let it happen to you!

Using online proofreading ensures that your work gets an assessment that strengthens your writing and makes it shine. EasyBib proofreading tools help you turn in your best work. Sign up online for a free three-day proofreading trial today! *

Visit www.easybib.com for more information on helpful EasyBib writing and citing tools.

For informational guides and on writing and citing, visit the EasyBib guides homepage .

How to Proofread an Essay: The Ultimate Guide for 2023

If you want to top the class, you’re going to have to know how to proofread an essay. Fortunately, we have some great tips that will get you off to the perfect start.

That’s a very difficult question to answer.

Every proofreader is different. However, you probably know excellent essay editors who can quickly and easily spot mistakes in writing and publish error-free essays every single time.

How do they do it? Do they have some secret proofreading techniques that you’re not aware of?

Actually, chances are, they do!

Whether they know it or not, many of the students you know who are turning in A-grade papers follow some form of proofreading process to work through all the kinks in their essays and ensure their essay formatting is perfect.

Today, we’re going to let you into some of their secrets by sharing some of the proven proofreading methods that actually work.

So, if you’re sick of your professor highlighting your shoddy grammar and careless mistakes, our guide to how to proofread an essay may be exactly what you need.

Download a free bonus essay editing checklist that will show exactly how you should edit an essay, step by step.

How to Proofread an Essay in Ten Simple Steps

1) Take a break

Yep, before you do anything at all, take a well-deserved break from whatever it is you have been working on.

To proofread an essay well, you need to have a clear head and be fully focused.

Go for a run, watch TV, listen to music… just do something other than stare at the paper.

Allow yourself at least 30 minutes break from your essay, ideally much longer.

When you return to your essay, you’ll find that you can see your work from a whole new perspective… warts and all!

Suddenly the mistakes will become much more apparent, and proofreading your essay will be a lot easier.

2) Get rid of any distractions

Once you’ve taken a break and cleared some time to focus on the task at hand, cut out all distractions.

Turn off the stereo, put your phone on mute, and tell your flatmates your room is out of bounds for the next hour or so.

Give your essay your undivided attention and concentrate on finding those pesky errors.

3) Read the essay aloud

This is not something we’d recommend when you’re grafting away on your essay in a busy library. However, if you can get a room to yourself, sit down and read your essay out loud word for word.

As you vocalize the words you have written, you will have a chance to both hear and see the flaws. In addition to giving yourself an opportunity to focus on the sound of the words, you’ll also spot where there are missing commas and issues with the flow.

Read each page aloud and keep improving it until the words start to sound perfect.

How to Proofread an Essay Pro Tip:

If reading aloud isn’t an option, paste the text of your essay into a text-to-speech program like  NaturalReader  and listen through headphones as the robot reads it to you. If there’s a mistake, you’ll have more chance of catching it.

4) Create a checklist of the mistakes you make on a regular basis and check them off one by one

Everyone has their own respective Achilles’ heel when it comes to grammar and punctuation.

Perhaps you frequently confuse the words “that” and “which.” Or maybe your use of splice commas has got you in trouble with your professor on one or two occasions in the past.

Whatever it is you frequently mess up, keep track and check for those mistakes before you submit your paper.

As you are proofreading each essay, you can quickly and easily jot down the errors you encounter and then use this list as your proofreading checklist next time you’re proofreading an essay.

5) Use grammar and spell checkers, but don’t rely on them

Of course, one of the first things you should do when you have finished the first draft of your essay is run the text through a spelling and grammar checker. This will help you identify some of the more obvious spelling and punctuation mistakes.

However, you should not rely on automated software as your only proofreading approach.

Even the best, most expensive grammar checkers are prone to errors. They simply cannot truly understand the language within the context it is used. As such, they can frequently point you in the wrong direction or even completely confuse you.

A further issue with grammar-checking software is that you need to have an exceptional command of English grammar to be able to decipher what are true grammatical errors; the software can only tell you that there might be a mistake.

Grammar checkers should never fully be trusted. They are computer tools and are fallible. Don’t let your trust in them be misguided.

Don’t believe us? Take a look at the following great articles:

• Grammar correction software
• Proofreading poem

6)  Find a proofreading buddy

Everyone knows that it’s immensely difficult to proofread your own writing… so proofread someone else’s essay instead.

Make a pact with one of your classmates to swap papers and proofread each other’s essays. Of course, you should choose your proofreading buddy wisely and ensure you opt for someone you can trust with this important task.

Ideally, you should find a mate who isn’t responding to the same essay prompt as you; that way, there’s less chance of him or her nicking all your great ideas.

7) Perform several passes

It sucks, we know, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll catch every grammar, punctuation, and spelling error on the first pass.

Most editors and proofreaders perform two, if not three, passes of every document they proofread.

8)  Try the old-fashioned method of proofreading an essay

Print out your essay, grab a pen, and don’t be afraid to use it.

Things look different on paper than they do on the screen.

When you hold a physical copy of your essay, you’ll find that the mistakes become much more obvious. It’s amazing how many more typos and silly errors you’ll spot when you use this method.

Don’t forget to make sure your transitions are effective. Take a look at our guide to essay transitions for more help.

9) Check the format last

Don’t let yourself be distracted from the main content by minor formatting issues.

Finish all the proofreading passes and then format your essay immediately before publication. If you’re working with the APA style, you’ll find our guide to APA formatting incredibly useful (it’s free!).

10) The best way to proofread an essay: Get a professional proofreader on the job

If your essay is important and you really can’t afford to make any mistakes, get a professional involved.

Do you know the difference between an n-dash and an m-dash? Do you know when to use a semi-colon?

You may very well have an excellent idea of what written English reads well; however, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have the know-how to proofread an essay. If you don’t have an exceptional command of English grammar and punctuation conventions, proofreading will be nothing more than guesswork.

If your essay is important to you, ensure you make sure your writing is the best it can be by using a professional proofreading service.

If you need more help, our essay editors can refine the text for you, make sure you have responded to the prompt and grading scheme properly, and give you constructive feedback on exactly how you can improve your essay.

What are you waiting for?

Stop wondering how to proofread an essay and get on with it!

5 thoughts on “How to Proofread an Essay: The Ultimate Guide for 2023”

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How to Proofread an Essay (+Little Tricks Most Writers Ignore)

Writing is hard. We all know that. Whether it’s an essay, a personal story, a blog post, or a novel, we spend tons of time and energy finishing the first draft.

For students, it’s even more challenging: Whether you craft an assigned essay or  ask professional writers to help you , you often forget about an integral part of the writing process all sophisticated authors undergo — proofreading .

Here’s the ultimate list of tricks and strategies on how to proofread an essay. Together with a proofreading checklist you’ll find in this article, it will help you master a new skill and flourish your writing.

Table of Contents:

• What is proofreading?
• Proofreading vs. editing
• How to proofread an essay: 17 strategies to try
• Proofreading checklist
• Ready to proofread your essay like a pro?

What is Proofreading?

It’s essential for any writing style, whether an academic paper, marketing content , personal blog post, or novel.

Now that you know a proofreading definition and understand the role of this process for your essay’s final grade, let’s go into a little more detail and reveal the core difference between proofreading and editing .

Proofreading vs. Editing

That’s how we define editing:

In a nutshell:

• Editing  is a longer and more complex process, with a focus on heavy changes to your content.
• Proofreading  goes after editing, with a focus on minor errors and inconsistencies.

Editing consists of a few rounds: content editing, line editing, and copy editing. Once ready, a specialist goes to the final step — proofreading. That’s what each round involves:

How to Proofread an Essay: 17 Strategies to Try

• Take a break after writing
• Get rid of distractions
• Edit first, proofread afterward
• Use writing guidelines as a checklist
• Focus on your most common writing mistakes first
• Avoid plagiarism
• Print it out and use a ruler
• Change a mindset
• Read backward
• Read it out loud
• Check each paragraph twice
• Check numbers and consistency
• Go beyond a text itself
• Ask a friend to read your essay
• Proofread several times
• Ask a professional editor to help you

And now, for more details on each one:

Take a Break After Writing

Once the final draft of your essay is ready, don’t hurry up to proofread it straight away. Take at least a 30-minute break; the ideal variant would be to start essay proofreading the next day after writing it.

A break will help your brain and eyes relax, so you would later check the draft with a clear head and better focus. It will make you see the text from a fresh perspective and proofread it more accurately.

Have a coffee, listen to music, take a walk — it’s up to you what break to choose. Just make sure you aren’t at the computer, and you don’t stare at the draft in search of  grammar or spelling mistakes .

Get Rid of Distractions

The break is over, and you’re ready to start checking your writing? Now it’s time to prepare your workplace so nothing would distract you from the process.

Turn off all the notifications, close unnecessary tabs on your laptop, and ask your family or roommates not to disturb you for a while. TV, music, the smell of coffee, a dog barking — consider everything that can bother you.

It’s not only about better concentration on the proofreading process. It will help you prevent procrastination: Nothing will be around to turn your attention away from the task.

Edit First, Proofread Afterward

As mentioned in the proofreading definition, it’s the last stage of the writing process. So, before you start checking your draft for typos and other minor inconsistencies, ensure you’ve edited your work: Why spend time fixing misspelled words if you might later remove the whole sentence or paragraph from the essay?

Edit first, proofread afterward. Yes, it requires time; seasoned writers admit that editing and proofreading often take even more time than writing itself. That’s why it’s critical to  manage time  and finish essays so you would have enough time to take a rest and proofread your work thoroughly before submitting it.

Use Writing Guidelines as a Checklist

Whether you write an essay, a blog post, or a  hypothesis , you will have the list with writing guidelines beforehand. There can be aspects like a topic, a formatting style, arguments and references to consider, etc.

These instructions from a teacher or an editor can help you save time proofreading: Address to them to ensure your draft sticks to every item from the list. It’s your checklist to follow.

Focus on Your Common Writing Mistakes First

We all have so-called Achilles’ heels in writing. What are your most common mistakes? Maybe you confuse “that/which” or “there/they’re,” or you forget about an Oxford comma or misspell “throughout?” Create a list of the mistakes you typically make and use it as a checklist when proofreading essays.

Focus on checking those mistakes first to ensure you won’t miss them through the process. Together with the list of writing guidelines from a professor/editor, it will be your extra helper to ease proofreading.

Avoid Plagiarism

You know that plagiarism is a no-no and educational institutions consider it an unacceptable violation of academic integrity. No matter  why students plagiarize , it’s a red flag: Professors check every work for plagiarism via corresponding tools; any duplications in your essay may cost you a grade, even if they were unintentional.

It’s not about academics only. Copying others’ work is a grave violation in any niche.

When editing and proofreading your essay, make it a habit to check it for duplications. Ensure you format all the quotes and other references properly. Run the draft through a plagiarism checker.

Print It Out and Use a Ruler

This proofreading trick is popular among journalists. Often, typos and other errors are easier to notice when reading a draft from print:

When checking a text from a computer screen, we scan rather than read it. Therefore, we risk missing some points. A printed copy allows us to focus on each word and sentence separately. Plus, it’s a chance to check if the formatting is correct and consistent.

Another trick to use here is to place a ruler under each line while reading. It helps your eyes focus on a short amount of text and proofread it precisely, with no dissipation throughout the whole essay.

Change a Mindset

Forget that it was you who wrote that essay. Change a mindset and imagine yourself as a professional editor: Pretend that you’re checking someone else’s work, not yours.

Help your mind separate a you-writer from a you-editor. Try going to a different location with your essay draft, wear a different hat, etc. You need to create a kind of psychological distance that will signal your brain it should think differently too.

This trick allows you to change a perspective and see the draft with fresh eyes. By doing so, you can notice weak points you wouldn’t care before.

Read Backward

This tip on how to proofread an essay works best when you don’t have any writing tools a la spell-checkers nearby. It can happen on an exam, while writing an  SAT essay , or in a classroom.

Start reading your work from the end, sentence by sentence. Therefore you’ll change perspective, forcing your brain to notice “mechanical” errors in the text. (When reading traditionally, we focus more on arguments and sequence of ideas, not minor mistakes.)

Read It Out Loud

Read your writing aloud or at least whisper it sentence by sentence. By vocalizing the words, you involve a few senses: seeing, speaking, and hearing. It gives you more opportunities to notice the flaws.

Plus, reading aloud will slow you down, preventing scanning and missing slight inconsistencies. You’ll hear the difference between what you wanted to say and what you  actually  wrote.

Check Each Paragraph Twice

Before doing your final proofreading (yeah, you’ll need to proofread an essay several times), read it paragraph by paragraph. The trick is to check each paragraph twice.

It will help you understand if a paragraph needs any major edits and go back to line- and copy-editing if necessary. Polish every sentence and paragraph of your writing work until they look/sound stellar.

The first thing that comes to a student’s mind is about proofreading an essay via spelling and grammar checkers. Yes,  Grammarly, Hemingway,  and even  Microsoft Word  can help you detect errors, and it’s worth using them. Yet, you can’t 100% rely on writing tools because they often don’t understand the context.

For example, only sophisticated tools can see the typo if you wrote, let’s say, “your” instead of “you’re.” Both spellings are correct, though meanings drastically differ. If English is not your native language or you aren’t perfect with English grammar, confusion and errors may still happen.

So, use checkers but don’t rely on them. At least, you can check your essay draft via several different tools for proofreading and editing: Altogether, they’ll identify more errors.

Try:   Read My Essay  (a free online tool from Bid4Papers)

Check Numbers and Consistency

When proofreading your essay, pay attention to the numbers you use as references. All those “see Section 2” or “check Figure 6” might have changed and become outdated when you edited the draft.

Cross-reference the numbers you use in the essay’s body with those mentioned in the bibliography , footnotes , or charts. Ensure they are consistent.

Speaking of consistency, by the way:

Check if you stay consistent throughout the essay. Double vs. single quotation marks, capitalization, writing numbers as words or numerals, US vs. British English spelling, full stops after bullets — all these details are critical in proofreading.

Go Beyond a Text Itself

Remember that typos and other mistakes can hide in places other than your  essay’s intro , body, or  conclusion . Don’t just proofread the text but also consider titles, footnotes, reference sections, captions, charts, etc.

Every part of your writing matters for the final result and grade. So don’t let errors slip through these places: Check each separately.

Ask a Friend to Read Your Essay

It’s challenging to proofread an essay since the risk of missing out on critical errors is high. So, it would help if you found a proofreading buddy — your friend, mom, or classmate — who could check your draft instead of you.

You can agree with a classmate that you’ll proofread each other’s essays, but the best option will be to find someone unrelated to your writing task. Sure thing, consider those you can trust or those you know have some knowledge of English grammar.

Proofread Several Times

Remember the tip on checking each paragraph twice? It works because you’ll unlikely notice EVERY spelling, grammar, and punctuation error at once. That’s why do your best to proofread your essay draft several times: Get ready to perform two or even three rounds.

The tip:  Use different proofreading methods for every round. First, you can proofread an essay by paragraph; then, consider reading it backward; and finally, you can print it out and read your essay aloud.

Ask a Professional Editor to Help You

Not sure if you need a comma or a dash, whether to write “affect” or “effect,” or what’s the difference between n- and m-dashes? Editing tools will hardly help here, but a professional editor can.

If you have an opportunity, you can ask an  editing service  to proofread your draft and provide feedback on your work. There’s nothing wrong with that: Most writers and journalists have editors who help them polish works and turn them into masterpieces we later read. The help of a professional editor is your chance to grow your writing skills: You’ll see your typical mistakes and will avoid them in your future works.

Proofreading Checklist

And now that you have a long list of tips and methods on how to proofread an essay, it’s time for a checklist to have nearby:

Here’s what to watch out for in your draft when proofreading:

1) Check your spelling:

• Articles misuse (an/a/the)
• Prepositions misuse
• Homophones confusion (you’re/your, there/their, etc.)

2) Check your punctuation:

• Apostrophes misuse
• Hyphens, em- and en-dashes, full stops in lists, etc.
• Missed or misused commas

3) Check your style:

• Capitalizations
• Inconsistent numbers
• US English vs. British English spelling

4) Check your formatting:

• Quotation marks
• Missing or misplaced footnotes, page numbers, headers
• Inconsistent spacing
• Paragraph indentation

Ready to Proofread Your Essay Like a Pro?

Now you know how to proofread an essay. Please remember that it’s an integral part of the writing process regardless of what you craft: an academic paper, a post for your blog, a short story, or a novel. Even if you have an editor to help with proofreading, do your best to check your draft for typos and other minor errors: Therefore, you’ll improve your writing skills and ease the job of your writing assistant.

And now, over to you:

How do you proofread your essays? What methods from those we described here did you try or would like to try? See you in the comments!

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One thought on “ how to proofread an essay (+little tricks most writers ignore) ”.

I never thought about proofreading as a part of writing process… thanks for sharing the strategies and tips on it here. I think I should try that reading out loud technique 🙂

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Newly freed hostages describe what life was like while being held by Hamas

TEL AVIV — As hostages released by Hamas this weekend try to settle back into some semblance of normal life, some of the first questions likely asked by those around them are deeply human: Where were you? What did you eat? Where did you sleep? Was there a bathroom? 

Now, with the release of more than 50 hostages over the past three days, more details are trickling in from family members of those who have been freed as part of the temporary cease-fire agreement. 

Follow live updates on the Israel-Hamas war

Hila Rotem Shoshani, who was 12 when she was taken, was released on Saturday without her mom, Raaya, who remains in Hamas custody. Raaya and Hila were kidnapped from the kibbutz in Be’eri on Oct. 7. 

“She said they had toilets, they had food — not a lot. Sometimes there was not enough food, sometimes they were a little bit hungry. Sometimes there was more food,” her uncle Yair Rotem told NBC News outside the hospital where she is currently being monitored. A video released Sunday showed Hila running into her uncle’s arms after her release. 

“Sometimes they waited for water,” Rotem said. “She said they brought water every once in a while in bottles.”

His niece has lost some weight, but looks fine physically, Rotem said, noting that she is still in shock and doesn’t show a lot of emotion. “She speaks about it like it’s a scene from a movie,” he added. 

He would not say if Hila was kept in Hamas’ underground tunnels while in captivity. 

What is certain is that her welcome home will be a stark contrast to what she experienced over the past seven weeks. Hila turns 13 on Monday and her family back in Tel Aviv were planning to throw a big birthday party for her, complete with balloons and cake.

Hila’s account of being in captivity, as recounted by her uncle, is one of several that have started coming in from family members since hostages were released in groups, one day at a time, starting on Friday.

Keren Munder, who was freed Friday along with her 9-year-old son, Ohad, and her mother, Ruthy, told her cousin, Merav Raviv, that they were given bread and rice while being held by Hamas, but food was in short supply. The trio were abducted by Hamas from kibbutz Nir Oz, where Keren and Ohad were visiting family. 

They lost a lot of weight in captivity, Raviv told NBC News in Tel Aviv on Monday, and had to sleep on benches and the floor. 

She said Keren told her the toilet was a “disaster,” and they had to knock on the door to let their captors know if they wanted to go, but sometimes had to wait up to two hours to be taken there. 

Her cousin doesn’t know exactly where they were held, Raviv said, because they were moved from place to place. She was also in an information vacuum, Raviv added, and had no idea how many people were killed or taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, or how her family knew they were kidnapped. It was just the three of them together, and they did not see other hostages. The same man supervised them the whole time, Raviv said. They mostly spoke English with him. 

Later on Monday, Ruthy Munder became the first newly released hostage to personally recount her ordeal.

She told Israel’s Channel 13 television that she was initially fed well in captivity until conditions worsened and people became hungry. She said she was kept in a “suffocating” room and slept on plastic chairs, covering herself with a sheet, for nearly 50 days.

Family members of other freed hostages spoke of their loved ones having to get adjusted to sunlight again after spending their time in darkness in Hamas tunnels, where it was suspected some of the hostages were being kept.  

Eyal Nouri, the nephew of Adina Moshe, 72, who was freed on Friday after being kidnapped from her home in kibbutz Nir Oz, said his aunt “had to adjust to the sunlight” because she had been in darkness for weeks, The Associated Press reported . 

“She was in complete darkness,” Nouri said. “She was walking with her eyes down because she was in a tunnel. She was not used to the daylight. And during her captivity, she was disconnected ... from all the outside world.” 

But the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Monday that some hostages followed Israeli media and were even informed about various events. And the aunt of Roni Krivoi, released on Sunday after getting kidnapped by Hamas from a music festival , told Israeli public radio station Reshet Bet that her nephew managed to escape from his captors, but local residents captured him and handed him back to Hamas. 

The accounts come weeks after initial details shared by Yocheved Lifshitz , 85, who was released last month before the cease-fire. She made headlines when, as she was being released, she turned to one of the armed, balaclava-clad Hamas militants and shook his hand, uttered “shalom” — a Hebrew salutation meaning “peace.”

Lifshitz told reporters after her release that she went through “hell” when she and her husband were abducted from Nir Oz. She said the Hamas militants beat her in the ribs with sticks, but she also said that her captors treated her and others well in captivity. Lifshitz said she was held in tunnels under Gaza that resembled a “spider web,” where they received medical care, including medication. The captives shared food with the militants, who kept conditions sanitary, she said. 

Israel has vowed to bring all hostages home, but has also signaled that the war will resume in full force as soon as the cease-fire is over. On Monday, Hamas and Qatari mediators said they had brokered a deal to extend the truce for two more days. Israel previously said that it was willing to extend the cease-fire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released.

In the meantime, family members and loved ones of the hostages who are still being held wait in fear, trepidation and agony over their well-being. 

Richard Engel and Raf Sanchez reported from Tel Aviv and Yuliya Talmazan from London.

Richard Engel has been NBC News' chief foreign correspondent since 2008. 

Raf Sanchez is a foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a London-based journalist.

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Whatever your view of the Israel-Hamas war, rape is rape. To trivialise it is to diminish ourselves

This isn’t some ghoulish competition, where any empathy shown to dead Israelis leaves less available for Palestinians

T here is no such thing as a perfect victim, but a million ways to be an imperfect one. She was drinking. Her skirt was too short. She went willingly back to the footballer’s mansion, or up to Harvey Weinstein’s hotel suite, so what did she think was going to happen? Maybe she was a teenage runaway, or a sex worker; he was a good boy, or a much-loved celebrity. There is a long list of reasons rapists get away with it, but it all too often starts with a jury’s refusal to listen to a woman they have already decided for some stubborn reason not to like. Remember that, as we come to the distressing picture now emerging of alleged multiple rapes and sexual assaults by Hamas fighters amid the atrocities of 7 October.

This week, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, finally called for what he described as “numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas” to be “vigorously investigated”.

Harrowing stories had begun emerging within days from the desert rave where traumatised young women, who survived only by hiding from the gunmen, described watching in silent horror as other women were gang raped, mutilated and shot. Israeli women’s rights groups, worried that chances to collect forensic evidence were missed in the initial chaos of a country under attack, swiftly mobilised – and last week, Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy , the lawyer chairing a civil commission hastily created to document crimes against women and children during the massacre, flew to meet UN officials to discuss the testimony collated. Look away now if you would rather not read about women and young girls found dead with their pants pulled down, and telltale evidence of bleeding, bruises and scratches; about smashed pelvises, semen samples, and graphic details I wouldn’t normally go into on these pages except that otherwise it seems people don’t believe it. Though some won’t, even then.

Rape is a war crime as old as war itself, and yet still often invisible thanks to the stigma surrounding survivors, the practical challenges of gathering evidence under fire, and bleakly, sometimes also the lack of survivors. But in recent years we have at least got better at recognising a pattern deserving of investigation. So when tales of Islamic State fighters raping and enslaving Yazidi women began to surface, or when horrific stories started filtering out from women in occupied Ukraine last year, I don’t remember too many sceptics demanding to see video proof. Nor do I recall many victim support workers responding as the director of the Sexual Assault Centre at the University of Alberta in Canada did after 7 October, by signing an open letter condemning genocide in Gaza that criticised a Canadian politician for repeating “the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence”. Only in this conflict have some normally proud progressives seemingly gone out of their way to show they don’t always #BelieveWomen, after all.

The response to Jews posting about the issue on X this week has ranged from casual whataboutery to a gruesome variant of the “pics or it didn’t happen” school of online scepticism, questioning why there aren’t any actual live rapes visible on that grisly compilation of atrocities the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are currently screening to select opinion formers. (The film, compiled from security camera footage and terrorists’ GoPros, includes only material that survivors’ families have expressly consented to publishing – not everyone wants their child’s last moments made public – and the IDF says some scenes judged too distressing or intrusive were excluded.) Evidently the stomach-turning images millions have already seen online – a dead woman, lying with her skirt pulled above her waist and no underwear on; the young woman bundled out of a truck in the Gaza Strip, the crotch of her jogging bottoms soaked in blood – aren’t enough for some.

Why do people who would probably happily judge an allegedly predatory actor or MP based on little more than hearsay seemingly struggle to entertain doubts about the sexual conduct of a terrorist, as if to do so would somehow be a betrayal of the Palestinian cause? For those who still conceive of Hamas gunmen as freedom fighters engaged in glorious resistance, it’s perhaps easier to rationalise away dead women than raped ones. It’s a war, they might tell themselves, and people die in war; anyway, look how many thousands more innocent women and children have died in Gaza. But a crime so obviously born of misogyny, revenge and exploitative power is not so easily explained away. For those who can’t deal with the troubling cognitive dissonance, the easiest thing is to decide that it just didn’t happen. The survivors must be liars, along with the first responders who reported finding half-naked bodies with injuries I won’t describe here, and the pathologists and women’s rights activists and news agencies claiming to have been shown supporting photographs and ambassadors saying they believe what they’ve heard from morgue workers; liars, the lot of them. Because if they aren’t, what are you?

Almost two months have now elapsed since 7 October, and in that short time, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry says that more than 15,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza . The current truce may not hold much longer, and the consequences if the fighting spreads to the impossibly overcrowded south don’t bear thinking about. The war crimes allegedly committed by Israel against Palestinians during this conflict obviously require investigation every bit as urgently as the ones that triggered it, and the UN’s ability to investigate rape claims has doubtless not been helped by the Netanyahu government’s reluctance to engage with a body that has been repeatedly and justifiably critical of Israel’s past actions in the occupied territories.

But all that said, this isn’t some ghoulish competition, nor a zero-sum game where any empathy shown to dead Israelis somehow leaves less available for Palestinians. Collectively, our international institutions must be capable of keeping more than one wrong in mind at once. And individually, we should expect of ourselves what we ask of juries, judges and police every time they hear a rape case, which is not to unquestioningly believe every word, but to listen with compassion and an open mind. A war crime is a war crime, regardless of who committed it. And rape is rape, even when perpetrated against someone you secretly don’t want to think of as a victim.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland , or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland . In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

• Israel-Hamas war
• Rape and sexual assault
• Palestinian territories

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