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We are not born knowing how to spell and use proper grammar. Improvement only comes through consistent use just like anything that is to be committed to long term memory. If you want to improve your spelling and grammar; read, read, and read some more. The more often we read words the more likely we are to remember them.

I learned this through repetitive reading of psychology books. I could never have fathomed knowing how to spell schizophrenia correctly. But, after reading that word over and over again, my brain processed it out of my short term memory and into my long term memory. Reading Dick and Jane books are not going to get you anywhere when it comes to spelling and grammar, unless you are five years old. Be sure to read books that are on your learning level and some that are above the level you're currently reading. You will know books are above your level when you find yourself looking up at least four words per page, because you don't know how to pronounce them or what they mean.

Don't worry about keeping a dictionary next to your desk, the book you want is a thesaurus. That way when you find yourself repeating the same words you can find a different word that means the same. This gives your papers a polished look and academic feel.

Learn the commonly misspelled words.

Your and you're. Your is possessive and you're, is a conjunction of you are.

There, their and they're. "Go look over there." "They're not coming to the party" "They forgot their ID's."

To, two, and too. "Go to page..." "I want to go too." "There are two of them."

Its vs. It's. "Its" is possessive, "It's" is a conjunction of it is.

Affect vs. Effect. Affect is a verb. Effect is usually a noun. You affect something, the result is the effect.

Who/ever vs. Whom/ever. If you can substitute with he/she in the sentence use who. If you substitute him/her then use whom.

The above common misspellings are also things you have to proofread for. When you proofread you should be doing several things.

First check the structure of the work as a whole. Do you have a proper opening middle and conclusion. Then does each paragraph have an opening sentence, meat in the middle, and a concluding sentence. Are there any rambling sentences, run on sentences, fragment sentences, or things that could be cut?

Secondly, check for these words: Just, good, really, sort of, basically, okay, a lot, bad, many, kind of, tons, very, and great. In academic writing these words are not acceptable to use. When checking your paper use

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