Review the overall style of your writing. Read your writing aloud and determine if it reads smoothly and naturally. Determine if your writing sounds as if you wrote it with a clear goal in mind. Check to see if ideas are expressed concisely and directly. Examine your sentences for clarity, conciseness and variety. Replace sentences that are wordy or rambling. Combine or expand sentences that are short and choppy. Consider your choice of words, avoiding redundancy.
Review punctuation and mechanics. Check for proper use of commas before coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences, after introductory clauses and long phrases and between items in a series. Look for apostrophes in contractions, plurals and possessive nouns. Examine quotation marks in quoted information, titles or dialogue. Watch for proper use of capital letters for first words in written conversation, for proper names of people, places and things.
Look for usage and grammar errors. Look for misuse of any commonly missed pairs of words such as, there/their, accept/except. Check for verb use. Subject and verbs should agree in number. Singular verbs go with plural verbs and verb tense should be consistent throughout your paper. Review your paper for pronoun/antecedent agreement. A pronoun and its antecedent must agree in number.
Check your paper for spelling. Use a spell checker but realize that spell checkers do not always catch all errors. Check each spelling you are unsure of. Especially check those proper names and other special words your spell checker will not pick up. Consult an up-to-date dictionary.
Check your paper for form and presentation. Determine if your title is appropriate and leads to the writing. Examine any quoted or cited material to insure it is properly presented and documented. Look over the finished copy of your paper and determine if it meets the requirements of the assignment.