Tip #3: Take the Time.

Tip #3: Take the time.

Impatience might be a more powerful bane for writers than the unwillingness to delete material. Writers write a draft and want to be able to send it out ASAP—preferably yesterday. Their baby's done and is absolutely purrfect! (I'll be addressing the flip side on Wednesday.) And often the last thing a student wants to do is sit down and proofread the paper that he just got done as quickly as he could to get it over with.

And often the last thing a student wants to do is sit down and proofread the paper that he just got done as quickly as he could to get it over with. But for editing and proofreading your own work (and for getting a nice grade), having time to spare is required.

Now, admittedly, in some cases like blog posts or articles-for-hire (or a paper written at the last minute), you may not always have the time to wait before proofreading your work. I often don't get a chance to proofread my blog posts here—something I could avoid if I could consistently keep the next three posts written, but I'm still working on that.

When you can't afford the time, at least be aware that you won't give your work the best edit you possibly can. Editing takes time.

Not just the time it takes to reread and mark corrections. You also need at least a day to wait, without reading your work, to gain some distance from it. If your memory's unusually good or if you've spent quite a long time writing it, that day requirement will have to be expanded.

The point of the wait isn't to make you want to avoid procrastinating. No, you need that time apart from what you wrote to forget what you intended to write and see what you actually wrote. To see what someone else will read.