A student wanted to observe human cheek cells under a light microscope. They scraped the inside of their cheek with a clean plastic scraper, smeared the sample directly onto a dry microscope slide, and quickly dropped a coverslip flat onto the specimen. Upon viewing, they only observed a faint, low-contrast image with prominent, dark-ringed circular obstructions and could not distinguish any internal cell structures.

Explain two distinct improvements the student should make to their slide preparation method to obtain a clear, high-contrast image of individual cheek cells.