The I'm Finished button reviews your paper for common mistakes and gives you an easy way to finish up your paper.
Suggested Fixes
Note: In PERRLA Online, Suggested Fixes is only available in papers created after July 28, 2026.
PERRLA checks your paper for issues like:
- References that are never cited in the body of your paper
- Double spaces or extra spaces around punctuation
- Citations you typed by hand instead of adding through PERRLA
- Periods placed before a citation instead of after
- Missing periods or commas in "et al.," "e.g.," and "i.e."
- Quotes with no citation, or no page or paragraph number
- Long quotes that should be formatted as a block quote
- Contractions
- Ampersands used in your writing instead of "and"
- Personal communications listed in your reference list instead of cited in-text
- Reference titles in the wrong case for your paper's format
PERRLA checks your paper for issues automatically. In PERRLA for Word, click Check my paper to start the search.
Click the magnifying glass next to any flagged item in the side panel to jump to it in your paper. Once you've made your fix, click Check again – anything you've fixed will no longer appear in the list.
Finishing Your Paper
Once you're ready to turn in your paper, use I'm Finished to finish up.
In PERRLA Online, you can:
- Download as Word Document – downloads your paper as a Word document.
- Download as PDF – downloads your paper as a PDF.
In PERRLA for Word, click Create a clean copy instead. See Creating a Clean Copy of Your Paper.
The I'm Finished button reviews your paper for common mistakes and gives you an easy way to finish up your paper.
Suggested Fixes
Note: In PERRLA Online, Suggested Fixes is only available in papers created after July 28, 2026.
PERRLA checks your paper for issues like:
- References that are never cited in the body of your paper
- Double spaces or extra spaces around punctuation
- Citations you typed by hand instead of adding through PERRLA
- Citations that name the author twice, like "Daniels (Daniels, 2019)"
- Citations that leave out the author when nothing in your sentence names the source
- Citations with no matching reference in your library
- Periods placed before a citation instead of after
- Missing periods or commas in "et al.," "e.g.," and "i.e."
- Quotes with no citation, or no page or paragraph number
- Long quotes that should be formatted as a block quote
- Contractions
- Ampersands used in your writing instead of "and"
- Personal communications listed in your reference list instead of cited in-text
- Reference titles in the wrong case for your paper's format
PERRLA checks your paper for issues automatically. In PERRLA for Word, click Check my paper to start the search.
Click the magnifying glass next to any flagged item in the side panel to jump to it in your paper. Once you've made your fix, click Check again – anything you've fixed will no longer appear in the list.
Fixing Citation Issues
Citation findings come with a button that fixes the problem for you. These buttons change only PERRLA's citation, never the words you wrote. They also work in papers you started before the new citation panel.
- Author named twice. Click Leave the name out.
- Author missing from a citation. Click Put the name back.
- Citation typed by hand. Click Connect to turn it into a real, linked citation. If the reference is in your library but not yet in this paper, click Add and connect. To connect every typed citation at once, click Connect all.
- Citation with no matching reference. Click Create reference. The reference lookup opens already filled in with the details PERRLA found, and PERRLA connects the citation once the reference is made.
Finishing Your Paper
Once you're ready to turn in your paper, use I'm Finished to finish up.
In PERRLA Online, you can:
- Download as Word Document – downloads your paper as a Word document.
- Download as PDF – downloads your paper as a PDF.
In PERRLA for Word, click Create a clean copy instead. See Creating a Clean Copy of Your Paper.