In elementary school, we always had the "easy way" out of correcting a ruff draft. All I had to do was write my ideas, and form a paper out of them. Then all I had to do was turn my paper in, and the teacher would mark it up with her red correcting pen. After I got it back I made the changes, and suddenly it became my final paper. Usually, since the teacher made the initial changes on my paper, she always agreed with my final. Therefore, it was hard not to get an A grade everytime!
Once I started high school, I found teachers were not as easy as they were in elementary/middle school. Now when I had a final paper to write, I had to make all the changes on my own. I never was sure if I was making the right changes to my writing. Thats when I decided to let my classmates read, or at least skim through, my papers. If it was a short essay assignment, my friends would usually read it over and give me some suggestions. When my papers were more that two pages in length, however, they usually glanced over it and said it was too long to read. If that was the case, I would give the paper to my mom or dad to read it over.
I have given many papers out to friends or family to read and revise for me. It always helps to get a different point of view, so the final paper turns out the best it can be.
I absolutely love peer reviews. An outside perspective is useful in finding errors that you may not have caught. I am just like you- I always want someone to read through my papers in order to make sure that they make sense to other people, and not just to me. Another helpful way to make sure a paper flows is to read it aloud. Hearing the words you write, rather than just thinking them, allows you to catch mistakes that you might not otherwise notice.
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