Proofreading My Essay: SPLAT

It is important to spend a minute proofreading your essay to find and

correct mistakes, once you have finished writing your essay. One way
you could proofread and edit is by using the SPLAT technique.

SPLAT stands for: Spelling, PLurals (singular/plural

nouns), Agreement (subject-verb agreement) and Tense.

These are some of the most common language mistakes that students
make and being able to find and correct these types of mistakes will
improve your essay in terms of Lexical Resource and Grammatical
Range and Accuracy. Here are some simple steps
for SPLAT proofreading and editing.

1) When you have finished writing your essay, write down the
abbreviation S PL A T on your planning page.

2) Then, quickly scan your essay response for each of these types of
errors . begin with looking for spelling (S) mistakes, then move to
single/plural (PL) or countable/uncountable nouns, followed by
subject/verb agreement (A) and finally tense errors (T).

3) Once you have finished proofreading and correcting a specific type of

error, tick (√) or cross off (X) the corresponding letter and move to the
next type of error.
*Remember, these are not the only types of errors which may be in
your writing although they are some of most common. Also try to find
other errors when you proofread, such as problems with incorrect
punctuation, capitalisation, word-form and word-choice.