Proofreading
Proofreading is unpleasant.
There's no doubt about it. It can be tedious and boring, if you approach it as a
process of ‘fixing mistakes.’ Ideally, of course, proofreading isn't about
correcting errors so much as it is about reviewing a written draft for ideas and
for readability. Proofreading allows you to read your draft, to consider what
you've written, and to change your mind. Proofreading offers an opportunity for
you to clarify what you’ve written (for yourself as well as for your reader)
and to make some choices.
In one sense, no one but you can
really proofread your work because no one else can truly understand your true
intent and purpose for the draft and the meaning you assign to it. At the same
time, though, it could also be argued that each of us is a poor proofreader for
our own work because it’s so hard for us to see what we’re written from the
more objective viewpoint of the reader.
If you can have other people
help you proofread, that’s great! An outside observer can help you more
objectively assess your draft, propose some more effective ways of making your
arguments, and help you make more effective word choices. So, while proofreading
can be tedious, it doesn't have to be lonely.
This
article covers two different kinds of proofreading:
Proofreading for revising or rewriting
·
This
typically involves major reworking of the paper: rearranging the order of
paragraphs, cutting material, adding new paragraphs and sections, and so on.
Proofreading
for editing
·
This typically involves working
primarily with sentences: rephrasing them, clarifying them, correcting
grammatical and mechanical mistakes.
It’s
important to note that neither of these strategies will help invigorate an
otherwise poorly conceived draft. To be blunt – if your draft is so poorly put
together that it’s in need of major mechanical revision, you haven’t
reached the true ‘proofreading’ stage yet.
Allow yourself some time between writing and proofreading. You need the time so that you can get some distance from what you have written and return to it with a fresh mind and eye. I like to wait at least 24 hours between the time I write a draft and the point at which I begin proofreading. Otherwise, I’m not in a ‘distanced’ frame of mind where I can see the document clearly.
Keep in mind
that you're writing for people who are not present and often not very willing to
put a lot of effort into making sense of what you’ve written. If you make it
hard for the reader to understand a concept – more often than not, they
won’t bother to. You can't expect readers to get inside your head and
understand what you meant to say. You can't expect them to guess at what
you might have thought. You can't expect them to fill in gaps or connect
ideas you haven't explicitly connected yourself. You have to make sure you write
all you need to write so that your readers can understand you without having to
work too hard at it.
Many
teacher-readers value clarity and explicitness. They value being able to get to
the ideas in the paper without being hindered by sentence-level errors; and they
value writing that makes connections between ideas and presents the implications
of those ideas.
Don't try to
proofread for everything at once. Make a number of passes through the paper. (I
try to proofread my own work at least three times.)
First, make a
pass to proofread for revising. This allows for creation of what I
consider to be the ‘first edit’ or ‘rough draft’ version of a document.
The editing emphasis here is on overall structure. Make sure each sentence is a
complete sentence. Make sure sentences are ‘actively’ worded. Make sure each
paragraph represents just one thought. Break up any sentences or paragraphs that
are wordy or cumbersome. Make sure the sentences and paragraphs flow in
terms of the overall intent of the document. Is the document getting you where
you want to go?
Next, make
another pass through the draft to proofread for editing. Keep in mind
that in proofreading for editing, you're not trying to change every
sentence that you've written. If a sentence or a paragraph seems adequate, leave
it. But if a sentence seems awkward – or a word within the sentence seems
ill-equipped to represent the idea you want to represent – consider your
options for replacement. Keep yourself focused on the difficulties you encounter
one sentence at a time, one paragraph at a time.
As you wrap
up the proofreading for editing process, verify the accuracy of spelling,
syntax, and grammar. Check punctuation. I try to look at every word, in every
sentence – and make sure that each word I use is exactly the right one for the
thought I want to impart.
Don’t feel
rushed to immediately ‘fix’ anything you identify as a problem. If in doubt,
mark the problem point and come back to it again later.
Read the draft all the way through silently, checking for general readability. Do you stumble over phrases or find it difficult to understand a particular sentence? Do you find yourself getting lost in a difficult passage or paragraph? If so, don't fix it right away but mark the margin so you can return to the passage later. Keep reading. Return to the marked passages after you have read the entire draft.
Read the
draft document aloud. This doesn't require an audience. Instead, listen to
yourself. Are the sentences varied enough in length to avoid monotony? (You'll
sense this if you sound monotonous!) Is there needless repetition of ideas? Does
the draft seem to drift from the point and then back again? Do you become lost
or confused about what it says? Again, don't stop to fix anything but keep
reading all the way through. Mark the margin where you happen on problems and
come back to them later.
Whenever
possible, complete this whole process once
- then, make your changes and set the document aside. Wait 24 hours and
go through the process again. You’ll find problems on the second reading that
you didn’t find the first time around. You may also find that
‘corrections’ you made on the first reading don’t sound so good on the
second reading… and you’ll want to go back to the original copy (that’s
ok!).
Last but not
least, whenever possible have someone else proofread your work – even if all
you have the person do is read through the document one time. It never hurts to
have a second set of eyes examine your work. More often than not, that second
set of eyes will identify problems that your eyes didn’t!
This guide is based on the following original document:
by M. C. Morgan, Bemidji State University /Writing Resource Center