When you have written enough to satisfy the requirements of the assignment or you’ve said all you ought to say about a given topic, it is time to put your paper through the rewriting process. If you are one of those students who compose on a word processor, you’re a step ahead of the game; if not, use the process of going from handwritten text to typewritten (word-processed) text as one of the steps of rewriting. As you go along, some spellcheckers will underline words or otherwise alert you with beeps and whistles that words are misspelled or duplicated and you can fix those on the fly. Otherwise, don’t bother with spelling here; you can catch misspellings later. But do watch for clumsy phrases in your writing and gaps in your thinking.
Once your paper is in the word-processor, safely saved (on both hard drive and floppy disc), run the spellchecker. Some spellcheckers are better than others, but virtually all spellcheckers will allow some misused homophones to slip through. Depending on how much experience you’ve had as a writer, you probably know the words you have trouble with — affect/effect, their/there, its/it’s, your/you’re. There are dozens of such words, and you can review them in the Notorious Confusables section. You can do a search for words that give you special trouble and make sure you’ve used them correctly. Some spellcheckers will catch your typing of duplicate words, but most won’t, so you’ll have to look out for that, too. It’s usually the the little words that slip by as duplicates, something that your fingers do when your brain slips into idle.
| The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.
__ Robert Cormier
|
Pay special attention to words that end in s. Some will be possessives, but you might have forgotten the apostrophe, and some will be plurals, which can present their own kind of difficulty in spelling.
Grammar checkers are available on many word processors. They are far less reliable than spellcheckers, but they are becoming quite sophisticated. Some grammar checkers are quite good at pointing out potential problems and even suggesting possible solutions. Don’t be bullied by your grammar checker, though. The computer can easily catch extra long sentences and alert you to the fact that a particular sentence is really long. It’s quite possible, though, that you need a really long sentence at that point, and if the sentence is well built (i.e., not a run-on sentence), let it stand. If there are several sentences that the computer judges to be extra long, however, that’s probably an indication of a serious problem and some of those sentences might be better off broken into smaller units of thought.
Grammar checkers are also very good at picking up on passive verb constructions. Frequently, a sentence will be improved and your meaning will be more clear, more forceful, if you replace passive constructions with active verbs. But not always. Review the section on passive verbs to see those uses of the passive that are appropriate. If you’ve used the passive construction in an appropriate way, leave it alone, no matter what your grammar checker says.
Go through the essay with an eye for proper punctuation, especially for errant commas. Again, whether you tend to leave out commas where they belong or use commas where you don’t really need them is a personal matter that requires your personal attention. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to print out the section on Comma Usage to have it on hand when you proofread your paper. Being careful about commas forces you to be thoughtful about the way your sentences are put together.
Whether you have a grammar checker or not, it is a good idea to know the problems that bother you most as a writer and do your best to eliminate those difficulties as you go from assignment to assignment. Try to grow as a writer with each assignment, eliminating the little glitches that your instructor caught last time and trying different methods of expression. Stretch your vocabulary a bit, try for an interesting effect in parallel style. Mostly, look for patterns of errors so you can predict the kind of thing that gives you trouble — fragments, run-ons, comma-splices, parallel form. Never throw out an old writing assignment. Whether its grade made you happy or not, there is always something to be learned from it.
If your Grammar Checker does not check for expletive constructions (sentences beginning with “there is” or “there are” or “here is”), you can do a simple search for the word there in the initial position and try to change clauses with those weak beginnings. Usually it’s a matter of eliminating the expletive construction and then saying something useful about the real subject of the sentence.
- There are 1200 students on financial aid at that college.
- The 1200 students on financial aid at that college have applied for renewal of their scholarships.
You can also do a simple search for apostrophes, checking to make sure that your possessive forms are built correctly and that anycontractions in your text are appropriate. (Some instructors feel that contractions are signs of lax writing or inappropriate informality and thus should be avoided in academic prose. See Tone.)
How much rewriting you do on the computer screen before you print out the paper for the next step in revision is going to depend on how comfortable you are reading text on the computer screen. Most writers find it too easy to skip over problems on the monitor and they need to have copy in hand, literally, to catch all their errors. Other writers, however, have become so comfortable in their use of the computer that the keyboard and screen have become an extension of their mind — even more so than a pencil or ballpoint pen can be — and on-the-screen manipulation of text becomes second nature. It is probably a matter of practice, but some writers will always want to move quickly to the next step of working with paper copy.
Once the written assignment on the computer screen looks the way you want it, it’s time to print it out and put it through some additional steps of the rewriting process. Make sure the paper is double-spaced (or even triple-spaced at this point) and you’ve given yourself some marginal space for scribbling notes. Again, look for the problems that have given you grief before and try looking at your paper as if you were your own instructor, looking for the same old stuff. Review the section on Confusion: Sources and Remedies while you’re in the middle of rewriting your paper. Word-processing makes fixing things later on easy, even fun, so don’t hesitate to do some serious scribbling, re-ordering of paragraphs, etc. If, when you go back to the computer, you’re unfamiliar with the techniques of highlighting and moving blocks of text, consult the software manual or ask a computer lab assistant to help you out.
Share your paper with a friendly editor, someone who has your interests at heart and who has the time to review your paper carefully and who is willing to ask questions and to challenge what you said and how you said it. This person should be a friend, but not too much of a friend. After all, you’re hoping for useful criticism here. Girlfriends, boyfriends, and parents make notoriously bad editors; they think whatever you write is wonderful, not to be improved. This is no time for coddling on their part or defensiveness on yours. This person is not to rewrite your paper for you, but you can hope he or she will catch an occasional glitch in punctuation or lapse in reasoning. The main purpose of this “outside editor,” though, is to challenge your argument. Does the paper really make sense, is the argument sound? After all, you know what a sentence or paragraph meant and that means you are less apt to catch a confusing phrase or momentary lapse in the argument than someone else would be. If possible, watch your editor’s face for confused looks or glazed eyes as he or she goes through your paper. It might mean that clarification is called for, that you skipped over something in your development, or that you’ve gone too far. Before he or she goes over your paper, it might be helpful to this outside editor to have a list of the kinds of things that have given you trouble in the past — or the things that your instructor is apt to look for. Share a copy of the Deadly Sins with your outside editor or use the more extensive Checklist provided below.
If you don’t have a friend who can go through this editing process with you, try reading your paper into a tape recorder and then play it back to yourself, slowly. It’s important to hear your paper as well as to see it on the page. Your ears will catch clumsy phrasing and botched sentences before your eyes will. If your outside editor and you can apply both ear and eye to your paper, that’s four separate faculties being brought to bear on the matter. Your chances of catching problems before they make their way into final text have just improved remarkably.
There is a fine line between letting someone else rewrite your paper and asking someone to collaborate with you in the editing process. Most tutors become expert at this after a while. The trick is to let you, the writer, keep the pen in hand — or your fingers on the keyboard. Probably every professional writer in the world — whether he or she is penning a novel or a letter to the editor — will share a draft with a colleague before sending his or her text to the publisher. And probably more than one colleague, more than one time, will be involved. Nothing is more important in this process, however, than your personal involvement and improvement as a writer.
Some instructors will provide an opportunity for peer editing, a process by which students make suggestions about their classmates’ work. Sometimes, in fact, a student’s effort in peer editing is an important part of the grade. Melanie Dawson, of the University of Richmond, has written an excellent description of this process along with a checklist of things to look for in someone else’s paper and suggestions about how to mark a classmate’s work: “Peer Editing Guide.”
Most writers try to prepare a draft of their paper in plenty of time to let the paper sit a day or so before they go through the rewriting process. You will do a better job of rewriting your work if you come to it a bit “cold.” You can be a bit more objective about the paper’s grammar and argument. Your mind will be less apt to provide missing links and gloss over errors in style if you can pretend that this is something you just happened to pick up, something written by someone else.
Before you return to the computer to fix up your text, it might be helpful to run through a checklist of things to look out for in the rewriting process. Based on your own experience, you probably know best where your essay is apt to be weak. Concentrate on those points, but don’t leave anything out. The table below is conveniently hyperlinked to explanations of the various issues. Click HERE for a one-page duplicate of this table that will be easier to print.
Editing Checklist
 Can you point to a Thesis Statement in the essay? Is it clearly stated? Does the text carry out the purpose of the thesis statement? If not, does the body of the paper need some paring down or elaboration or does the thesis statement need to be refined to reflect an improved text? |
| Are the ideas in the essay clearly ordered? If the reader had to, could he or she devise an Outline that would reveal the order of development in your argument? Is there any part of the essay that could be left out to good effect? (If so, could a revised organization “save” that part?) |
| Are there any serious fallacies in the Logic of your argument? |
| Are paragraphs adequately developed and is there a clearTransition from one idea to the next? |
| Is the Introduction clear and adequately developed? Does theConclusion do what you want it to? Does the conclusion remind us of what the Thesis Statement told us (but not too simplistically). |
| Is the Tone consistent and appropriate for the audience you want to reach and the subject you’re treating? Have you avoided slang and being overly casual; at the other extreme, have you avoided sounding pretentious and stuffy? |
Personal Grammatical Issues:
Circle those elements below that might be something you need to pay special attention to in your own writing. |
 Fragments
Run-ons
Comma Usage
Other Punctuation Marks
Articles
Plurals and Possessives
Pronouns
Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement
Modifier Misplacement |
Subject/Verb Agreement
Tense Sequence
Capitalization
Italics and Underlining
Using Numbers
Wordiness
Parallelism
Confusion
Spelling |
If, in the course of editing and rewriting your paper, you have occasion to use proofreading symbols or need to know what those symbols mean, a handy Guide to Proofreading Symbols is available as part of this guide.
When you’ve finished with the checklist, go through the essay a couple of more times on the computer screen and run the spellchecker again — just in case you changed something and created a new misspelling where one didn’t exist before. With word-processing, it is almost never too late to make changes. A word of caution, however: don’t be one of those students who show up late for class, tearfully protesting that the printers in the computer lab broke down or ate the paper five minutes before class. Leave time for such emergencies. They don’t happen often, really, but they always happen at the worst time imaginable.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/editing.htm
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This handout provides some tips and strategies for revising your writing. To give you a chance to practice proofreading, we have left seven errors (three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors) in the text of this handout. See if you can spot them!
Not exactly. Although many people use the terms interchangeably, editing and proofreading are two different stages of the revision process. Both demand close and careful reading, but they focus on different aspects of the writing and employ different techniques.
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- Get some distance from the text! It’s hard to edit or proofread a paper that you’ve just finished writing—it’s still to familiar, and you tend to skip over a lot of errors. Put the paper aside for a few hours, days, or weeks. Go for a run. Take a trip to Aruba. Clear your head of what you’ve written so you can take a fresh look at the paper and see what is really on the page. Better yet, give the paper to a friend—you can’t get much more distance than that. Someone who is reading the paper for the first time, comes to it with completely fresh eyes.
- Decide what medium lets you proofread most carefully. Some people like to work right at the computer, while others like to sit back with a printed copy that they can mark up as they read.
- Try changing the look of your document. Altering the size, spacing, color, or style of the text may trick your brain into thinking it’s seeing an unfamiliar document, and that can help you get a different perspective on what you’ve written.
- Find a quiet place to work. Don’t try to do your proofreading in front of the TV or while you’re chugging away on the treadmill. Find a place where you can concentrate and avoid distractions.
- If possible, do your editing and proofreading in several short blocks of time, rather than all at once—otherwise, your concentration is likely to wane.
- If you’re short on time, you may wish to prioritize your editing and proofreading tasks to be sure that the most important ones are completed.
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Editing is what you begin doing as soon as you finish your first draft. You reread your draft to see, for example, whether the paper is well-organized, the transitions between paragraphs are smooth, and your evidence really backs up your argument. You can edit on several levels:
Content
Have you done everything the assignment requires? Are the claims you make accurate? If it is required to do so, does your paper make an argument? Is the argument complete? Are all of your claims consistent? Have you supported each point with adequate evidence? Is all of the information in your paper relevant to the assignment and/or your overall writing goal? (For additional tips, see our handouts on how to read an assignment and argument in academic writing.)
Overall structure
Does your paper have an appropriate introduction and conclusion? Is your thesis clearly stated in your introduction? Is it clear how each paragraph in the body of your paper is related to your thesis? Are the paragraphs arranged in a logical sequence? Have you made clear transitions between paragraphs? One way to check the structure of your paper is to make an outline of the paper after you have written the first draft. (See our handouts on introductions, conclusions, constructing thesis statements, andtransitions.)
Structure within paragraphs
Does each paragraph have a clear topic sentence? Does each paragraph stick to one main idea? Are there any extraneous or missing sentences in any of your paragraphs? (See our handout on paragraph development.)
Clarity
Have you defined any important terms that might be unclear to your reader? Is the meaning of each sentence clear? (One way to answer this question is to read your paper one sentence at a time, starting at the end and working backwards so that you will not unconsciously fill in content from previous sentences.) Is it clear what each pronoun (he, she, it, they, which, who, this, etc.) refers to? Have you chosen the proper words to express your ideas? Avoid using words you find in the thesaurus that aren’t part of your normal vocabulary; you may misuse them.
Style
Have you used an appropriate tone (formal, informal, persuasive, etc.)? Is your use of gendered language (masculine and feminine pronouns like “he” or “she,” words like “fireman” that contain “man,” and words that some people incorrectly assume apply to only one gender—for example, some people assume “nurse” must refer to a woman) appropriate? Have you varied the length and structure of your sentences? Do you tends to use the passive voice too often? Does your writing contain a lot of unnecessary phrases like “there is,” “there are,” “due to the fact that,” etc.? Do you repeat a strong word (for example, a vivid main verb) unnecessarily? (For tips, see our handouts on style and gender-sensitive language.)
Citations
Have you appropriately cited quotes, paraphrases, and ideas you got from sources? Are your citations in the correct format? (See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for more information.)
As you edit at all of these levels, you will usually make significant revisions to the content and wording of your paper. Keep an eye out for patterns of error; knowing what kinds of problems you tend to have will be helpful, especially if you are editing a large document like a thesis or dissertation. Once you have identified a pattern, you can develop techniques for spotting and correcting future instances of that pattern. For example, if you notice that you often discuss several distinct topics in each paragraph, you can go through your paper and underline the key words in each paragraph, then break the paragraphs up so that each one focuses on just one main idea.
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Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process, focusing on surface errors such as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation. You should proofread only after you have finished all of your other editing revisions.
Why proofread? It’s the content that really matters, right?
Content is important. But like it or not, the way a paper looks affects the way others judge it. When you’ve worked hard to develop and present your ideas, you don’t want careless errors distracting your reader from what you have to say. It’s worth paying attention to the details that help you to make a good impression.
Most people devote only a few minutes to proofreading, hoping to catch any glaring errors that jump out from the page. But a quick and cursory reading, especially after you’ve been working long and hard on a paper, usually misses a lot. It’s better to work with a definite plan that helps you to search systematically for specific kinds of errors.
Sure, this takes a little extra time, but it pays off in the end. If you know that you have an effective way to catch errors when the paper is almost finished, you can worry less about editing while you are writing your first drafts. This makes the entire writing proccess more efficient.
Try to keep the editing and proofreading processes separate. When you are editing an early draft, you don’t want to be bothered with thinking about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. If your worrying about the spelling of a word or the placement of a comma, you’re not focusing on the more important task of developing and connecting ideas.
You probably already use some of the strategies discussed below. Experiment with different tactics until you find a system that works well for you. The important thing is to make the process systematic and focused so that you catch as many errors as possible in the least amount of time.
- Don’t rely entirely on spelling checkers. These can be useful tools but they are far from foolproof. Spell checkers have a limited dictionary, so some words that show up as misspelled may really just not be in their memory. In addition, spell checkers will not catch misspellings that form another valid word. For example, if you type “your” instead of “you’re,” “to” instead of “too,” or “there” instead of “their,” the spell checker won’t catch the error.
- Grammar checkers can be even more problematic. These programs work with a limited number of rules, so they can’t identify every error and often make mistakes. They also fail to give thorough explanations to help you understand why a sentence should be revised. You may want to use a grammar checker to help you identify potential run-on sentences or too-frequent use of the passive voice, but you need to be able to evaluate the feedback it provides.
- Proofread for only one kind of error at a time. If you try to identify and revise too many things at once, you risk losing focus, and your proofreading will be less effective. It’s easier to catch grammar errors if you aren’t checking punctuation and spelling at the same time. In addition, some of the techniques that work well for spotting one kind of mistake won’t catch others.
- Read slow, and read every word. Try reading out loud, which forces you to say each word and also lets you hear how the words sound together. When you read silently or too quickly, you may skip over errors or make unconscious corrections.
- Separate the text into individual sentences. This is another technique to help you to read every sentence carefully. Simply press the return key after every period so that every line begins a new sentence. Then read each sentence separately, looking for grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. If you’re working with a printed copy, try using an opaque object like a ruler or a piece of paper to isolate the line you’re working on.
- Circle every punctuation mark. This forces you to look at each one. As you circle, ask yourself if the punctuation is correct.
- Read the paper backwards. This technique is helpful for checking spelling. Start with the last word on the last page and work your way back to the beginning, reading each word separately. Because content, punctuation, and grammar won’t make any sense, your focus will be entirely on the spelling of each word. You can also read backwards sentence by sentence to check grammar; this will help you avoid becoming distracted by content issues.
- Proofreading is a learning process. You’re not just looking for errors that you recognize; you’re also learning to recognize and correct new errors. This is where handbooks and dictionaries come in. Keep the ones you find helpful close at hand as you proofread.
- Ignorance may be bliss, but it won’t make you a better proofreader. You’ll often find things that don’t seem quite right to you, but you may not be quite sure what’s wrong either. A word looks like it might be misspelled, but the spell checker didn’t catch it. You think you need a comma between two words, but you’re not sure why. Should you use “that” instead of “which”? If you’re not sure about something, look it up.
- The proofreading process becomes more efficient as you develop and practice a systematic strategy. You’ll learn to identify the specific areas of your own writing that need careful attention, and knowing that you have a sound method for finding errors will help you to focus more on developing your ideas while you are drafting the paper.
Think you’ve got it?
Then give it a try. This handout contains seven errors—maybe you already spotted them—which our proofreader should have caught: three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors. Try to find them, and then check a version of this page with the errors marked in red to see if you’re a proofreading star.
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We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial.
Especially for non-native speakers of English:
Ascher, Allen. Think about Editing: A Grammar Editing Guide for ESL Writers. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1993.
Lane, Janet and Ellen Lange. Writing Clearly: An Editing Guide. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1993.
For everyone:
Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
Lanham, Richard. Revising Prose. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Tarshis, Barry. How to Be Your Own Best Editor. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/proofread.html
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