Strategies for improving spelling
Although most software has a spellcheck function, it is never a good idea to solely rely on spellcheck because it cannot identify correctly spelled words used incorrectly (e.g. I sea the dog instead of I see the dog) and occasionally incorrectly spelled words are not identified if they have been accidentally added to the software dictionary. It cannot be stressed enough how important proofreading several times is before submitting an assignment. A useful way to find errors is reading your writing aloud to yourself. We tend to become so familiar with our own writing when we have worked on it for a long time that we miss errors, and hearing it, rather than reading it, can help identify mistakes. When you proofread your work before submitting, try to read it from the perspective of the reader rather than the writer and consider the clarity of what you have written; would someone without the same knowledge as you, understand? If possible, have a friend review your work too before final submission.
It can also be helpful to understand the reasons for different kinds of spelling errors. A common mistake is the use of American spelling instead of British, which is what is used in New Zealand (E.g. color vs colour). You may need to change the dictionary setting to New Zealand English in your word processing software.
Commonly confused words are another reason for spelling errors (e.g. This is there house vs This is their house). Enabling the Editor function in Word, checks for this sort of error, as well other kinds of spelling errors such as words that have incorrectly been put together (e.g. alot, infront), words that have been split in two (e.g. to gether, with out), or simply misspelled words (e.g. favrit, prehaps, absolutly, begining, geting, comeing).