News announced 04/12/2015
Most common coursework mistakes if English is not your first language
Prepositions, conjunctions and homophones separate ESL students from a top mark
Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) should take extra care with their use of prepositions, conjunctions and articles before submitting their coursework, research by academic proofreading service Proofread My Essay has found.
These are just a few of the mistakes found by the study that looked into Proofread My Essay’s
10,000-strong customer pool to shine a light on the most common errors made by ESL students.
Proofread My Essay conducted the study to help improve the academic writing of the nearly
500,000 ESL students currently in UK universities. According to the service, over 90 per cent of
ESL students used the wrong prepositions (e.g. “for”, “on”, “at”, etc.) in their coursework. Similarly,
90 per cent of students failed to ensure that their sentences’ subjects and verbs agreed.
Kiran Chauhan, CEO and founder of Proofread My Essay, said:
“We have proofread over 14,000 documents this year, a lot of them from ESL students. We noticed some recurring patterns among their essays and were really keen on helping them with a list of things to watch out for.”
The study stressed the importance of proofreading to help students make the most out of their degree. Proofread My Essay’s research also found that 80 per cent of students used conjunctions
(e.g.
“although”, “therefore”, “whereas”) incorrectly. What’s more, 70 per cent of students misused articles (“a”, “the”) and failed to make sure singular and plural nouns agreed with their verbs.
Additionally, over half of the coursework reviewed by Proofread My Essay included missing, incorrect or incomplete referencing.
Kiran Chauhan added:
“Aside from making general grammatical mistakes, failing to use the correct referencing also shines a bad light on students. Referencing proves you aren’t plagiarising your work and that you’re keen on helping future researchers further investigate a topic. Getting the referencing wrong can really separate the top students from the rest
– but this can be easily changed with a little help and direction .”
Other mistakes by ESL students included incorrect use of apostrophes (40 per cent), repetitions
(40 per cent), use of US English as a proofing language (20 per cent), and confusing homophones
(10 per cent). Proofread My Essay has covered advice to avoid these mistakes on its academic blog.
Kiran Chauhan concluded:
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“In a previous study, we found that ESL students can move from a 2:2 to a 2:1 with the right proofreading, so it’s essential that they use all tools they have at hand to make their hard work pay. After all, the ESL students who send us their coursework come from an incredibly varied background and write top quality essays: it would be a shame to waste those ideas on sloppy grammar.”
Here is a list of the most common mistakes made by ESL students according to Proofread My
Essay:

Mistaking effect for affect

Homophone errors (words that sound the same)

Use of US English as proofing language

Misuse of the word “about”

Lack or misuse of apostrophes

Multiple use of “said” or “because” in a single sentence

Missing, incomplete, or incorrect academic referencing

Overly long sentences

Syntax issues

Missing or misusing articles (“a”, “the”)

Failing to make sure singular and plural nouns agreed with their verbs

Incorrect use of conjunctions (e.g. although, therefore, whereas)

Wrong preposition usage (e.g.
“for”, “on”, “at”, etc.)
For more information on Proofread My Essay and the proofreading process, check https://proofreadmyessay.co.uk/
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What is Proofread My Essay?
Proofread My Essay is an international academic proofreading service offering proofreading and formatting services to customers. The brand currently proofreads over 14,000 documents per year and works with students all across the UK and international markets. You can check out Proofread
My Essay
’ s website here: https://proofreadmyessay.co.uk/
For more information please contact:
All Proofread My Essay news can be found at our Digital Newsroom

Manifest
Julian Obubo & Carolina Are t. 0203 1379270 e.
proofreadmyessay@manifestlondon.co.uk
All Proofread My Essay news can be found at our Digital Newsroom