Proofreading Suggestions
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“No Iron can pierce the
heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.”
Isaac Babel
Make Your Computer Talk to You | How to Proofread Sources | Proofreading Checklist | Words to Avoid
First and foremost, proofreading means paying attention to what you’ve actually written. The problem is that we’re just not used to the kind of sustained concentration to the written word that proofreading requires. So your first goal is the take a mental deep breath, and focus on getting your words right.
Save editing until the end. Turn your attention to editing only after you have planned and worked out a revision. Too much editing too early in the writing process can limit – even block – invention and drafting.
Since your goal is to communicate with clarity and authority to the widest possible range of readers, write in Standard American English.
While most people think only of commas and grammar when proofreading, the main thing to focus on is clarity of expression – usually the punctuation and grammar will fall into place once you’ve clearly said what you want to say.
The number one tip is to read differently when proofreading. You’re not reading for content when you proofread, you’re reading to smooth out the wording and correct any grammatical errors.
Treat your essay as a grammar handbook exercise – try reading the pages out of order. You should also get someone else to carefully read your essay, concentrating not on content, but on correctness. Try sending an email to myself, the Writing Center, and/or Smarthinking.
For a look at a professional proofreader at work, check out this video by a copy editor of the New Yorker magazine. It’s surprisingly compelling.
Note the types of grammatical and spelling errors you discover in your own writing. Typically, we don’t make many kinds of errors; we make the same errors over and over. It’s time to recognize these patterns and then correct – and eventually avoid – them.
To focus your attention on grammar and spelling, it may help to read backwards, beginning with the last sentence. Most writers get diverted thinking about what they are saying rather than how they are presenting it. Reading backwards makes it harder to pay attention to content, and thus easier to recognize writing problems.
Polonius: “What do you read
my Lord?”
Hamlet: “Words, Words, Words”
Hamlet
Because it is usually easier to see errors in someone else’s writing than in your own, you might consider trading essays with a classmate and proofreading one another’s writing.
What I find most difficult with proofreading is catching my own errors. That makes sense: I know what I want to say so I “magically” insert missing words or mentally make corrections as I’m reading my own work.
A few years ago I started using the text to speech function in Word to break this spell. Highlight text (I do a sentence or paragraph at a time), click on an icon, and it reads your work out loud, helping you “hear” rough spots or grammatical errors.
It has saved me from much embarrassment in emails and letters. The instructions to set this up for Word are on the web. If you don’t have Word, Macs have this same capability and there are several other programs on the web that will do this as well.
Including sources is at the core of academic writing but it poses some problems, particularly when you’re just starting to incorporate them into your essay.
To ease you into this essential practice, check through the following quick list each time you include a quote. It will seem a bit much at first, but soon you’ll internalize it and will do this naturally. This internalization has a fancy name: it’s called “learning.”
Go to each source you’ve included into your essay and check for the following:
1. Delete: Take out any words which aren’t needed
2. Clarify: Change any phrases that do not read clearly.
3. Engage reader: Add analogies, descriptions, examples,
sharp phrasing to help readers “see” your point.
4. Cohesion: Use repetition to keep reader focused. Supply
introductory phrases to quotes and use transitions to move readers
through your ideas.
| you/we | This
suggests you’re speaking directly to the reader. But what if your
reader has no problems communicating? It can also lead to pronoun
problems. Instead use people, a person, some, they, males, females, English professors, etc. |
| a lot | Too general for
formal essays. Be specific. Instead use many, often, several, etc. |
| one | Avoid when
using to refer to a person. Instead use A person, a man, a woman, people, etc. |
| don't | Avoid
contractions in academic writing: a bit too informal. Instead use do not, etc. |
| the fact that | A bit wordy –
one of those empty phrases that merely slow down the reader. Instead use Actually, you can usually completely eliminate this phrase |
| being that | Awkward wording
– sounds okay in oral speech, but usually doesn’t work in standard
written English Instead use Since |
| in which | Can be awkward Instead use which or reword |