Five stage process:
1. Structure and content only
- Have you followed your plan?
- Is the overall structure logical?
- Are the sections in a logical order?
- Are the subsections within a section in a logical order?
- Will the relationship between ideas be clear to the reader?
2. Style, grammar, punctuation, equations
3. Proofread
Find:
- typos
- irregular spacing
- errors in punctuation
- errors in spelling
- omitted words
- funny fonts or formatting
- errors in equations, figures, tables
4. Formatting
Things to consider:
- Visual look of document: Make your document look visually storing and not boring or daunting/make sure that your make formatting decisions based on careful thought or on established guidelines. Don't be sloppy.
- Justification
- Margin width
- Bullets or listing: use it not too much
- Page breaks: don't put a heading at the bottom of a page/don't cut a table in half from bottom of one page to top of next
5. Document integrity
Avoid discrepancies such as:
- incorrectly numbered section headings
- incorrect figure or table numbers or references in text
- referencing mistakes
- incorrect Table of Contents numbers
- missing figures/tables
