One of the most important elements in proofreading is leaving yourself enough time to go through the motions. Having a good sense of time management will allow you to be more flexible with your proofing and editing. A common problem in academic writing is students' poor time management skills, which often lead to students turning in their first copies of the assignment. First copies are only the beginning of a good piece of writing, and you have to allow yourself enough time for at least another re-write.
A simple way to budget your time is by having a calender on which you plan out your coming days, so your deadline does not sneak up on you. If you have something due on a Friday, you should have a copy done by Monday, or Tuesday at latest, to leave yourself enough time to make corrections.
There are a few good, simple ways to proofread. One simple proofreading technique is to just get away from your work for an extended period of time after you finish writing it. This will allow you to refresh your mind, away from your work. If you spend an extended period of time working on a piece, you might make common errors and fail to recognize them immediately.
Another good, simple proofreading technique is to have someone that you are comfortable with look over your work and critique it. This allows another pair of eyes to examine your work, and they might find something that you missed. It is also good to have more than one person look over your work and critique it; the more eyes that go over your work, the more likely the final result will be error free.
My personal favorite and most effective way to proofread is to slowly read it out loud, word for word. Once your work is finished, print it out and spend time reading it out loud. It is amazing how many errors you will find by doing this, and it is also good if you do not have other people to rely on and help you out with your editing. This technique is commonly used by proofreaders, and can be one of the most effective ways to detect errors.