Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Polish it off
Revising sentences
Writing your paper

Before you print out your report, proofread it one last time to fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Many experienced writers proofread from the last sentence back to the first to keep from missing the words because you got caught up in the flow. Do not rely solely on your spell-checker. It won't catch words that are correctly spelled but incorrectly used, such as their-there-they're, it's-its, too-to, accept-except, affect-effect, already-all ready, complement-compliment, principal-principle, discrete-discreet, and so on. If you've had that kind of problem before, do a global search to check on both words.

Some students think they should worry about the quality of their writing only in an English course. It is true that instructors in courses other than English are likely to focus more on the content of your report than on its style. But don't think they'll ignore its clarity and coherence. If a history or art instructor criticizes your report because it's badly written, don't plead: But this isn't an English course. Every course in which you write is an opportunity to practice writing clearly, coherently, and persuasively, a skill that will serve you well for the rest of your life.

You might now think your job is done. In fact, you have one last task: to profit from the comments on your returned paper.