Proofreading Strategies

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Agenda 1. The writing process 2. Why should we proofread? 3. Higher Order Proofreading 4. Lower Order Proofreading 5. Activity 6. Resources

Why Proofread?

For Clarity Writing should be clear and polished for your audience. If your writing has mistakes or is unclear, it can be hard for the reader to understand/connect with your ideas and arguments.

The Writing Process

The Writing Process Starting point Reformulating Editing Composing Exploration Incubation Illumination

The Writing Process Proofreading is an crucial part of the writing process. Usually occurs near the end of the writing process through the reformulating and editing stages of writing. It gets easier with practice.

Higher Order Concerns

Organization/Structure Introduction, body, conclusion Paragraphs not too long (or short), generally one idea per paragraph, provide evidence Discipline & Genre structure your work to fit the disciplinary guidelines as well as the genre (e.g., lab report, reflective summary, compare and contrast essay, empirical research paper) Do your ideas/arguments flow logically + linearly throughout the paper?

Assignment Guidelines Re-read assignment guidelines and/or rubric Have you done everything required? How are you being graded? (what is being emphasized) Be critical of your content Have you used enough/reliable sources? Is your evidence (i.e., quotes) relevant and useful? Do you unpack your evidence sufficiently?

Revising and Editing Once you have a full/rough draft, ask yourself these questions: Does each point relate to your overall argument? Do your points flow logically? Have you included enough examples and evidence to convince the reader? Does each paragraph have a focus? Do your paragraphs connect to each other? Have you properly cited your resources?

Lower Order Concerns

Lower Order Concerns TYPOS Although you should never turn off your spellcheck, you can t always trust it to be 100% accurate or notify you of every mistake Our brains are very good at ignoring typos Know the general rules of the language grammar, punctuation, sentences, spelling, etc.

Lower Order Concerns Brain HQ (n.d). Scrambled text. Retrieved from https://www.brainhq.com/brainresources/brain-teasers/scrambled-text

Lower Order Concerns HOMOPHONES They re, there, and their It s vs. its Sore vs. soar Soul vs. sole Are you using the correct word?

Lower Order Concerns How many of you have trouble with commas, colons, and semicolons? PUNCTUATION Colon used after an independent phrase that precedes a list Comma connect a dependent clause to an independent clause; connect two independent clauses with conjunctions (and, but, or) Semicolon Connect two independent clauses with no conjunction; separate listed items

Lower Order Concerns SENTENCE FRAGMENTS Incomplete sentences Reader is left hanging RUN-ON SENTENCES Too many dependent clauses Phrases/clauses not connected by punctuation Reader runs out of breath before sentence ends

Lower Order Concerns LANGUAGE Use class/disciplinary vocabulary Know your style guide and dictionary Academic language (no slang) Be consistent Check for overused words Be careful with auto-correct

Tips for Proofreading Print your paper Easier to read and mark it up Read it out loud You ll catch your mistakes If you become tongue tied or have trouble reading, this indicates that it may not be as smooth as it could be Fresh Eyes Take some time away from your paper before you edit (fresher eyes/perspective)

Let s Try

In the 2010 novel Our Friendly Local Terrorist, Mary Jo Leddy (2010, p. 4) shares insight in to the dark corners of the Canadian Immigration system that is failing to protect the right s of refugees. She describes her disbelief that this could happen in Canada and how the lack of responsibility with in our system leaves new immigrants alone and feeling at a loss. She paints a clear picture of how a single Kurdish man, Sulyman Goven, a refugee, is labelled a terrorist unjustly and the impact it had not only on his process of receiving landed citizenship, but also on the hole Kurdish community in Toronto. Her story makes apparent the unsuccessful social policies, failure to meet the basic settlement needs of refugees and the oppression that is imposed on arriving refugees in Canada.

Your Turn!

7 Practical Principles for Rewriting 1) Be brief: Replace unnecessarily wordy phrases with simpler ones 2) Be clear: Replace complex sentences with shorter ones 3) Clarity isn t the same as precisions: Say clearly what you mean 4) Stay on point: Remove distracting content 5) Guide your reader: Use signposting words & links to clarify the flow of your ideas 6) Revise radically: Don t be afraid to shift around sentences & paragraphs 7) Re-read yourself closely Chatfield, T. (2018). Critical thinking: Your guide to effective argument, successful analysis and independent study. London: Sage

Resources Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) The Oatmeal s How to use a semicolon Grammarly Grammar Checker* Hemingway Editor for Readability and Complexity* *As with auto-correct and spell-checkers, be cautious and use your judgement

Summary 1. The writing process 2. Why should we proofread? 3. Higher Order Proofreading 4. Lower Order Proofreading 5. Activity 6. Resources

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