The process of editing your work includes proofreading your writing for common weaknesses and mistakes you are likely to make, as well as problems in all the following areas:
- Grammar.
- Sentence structure and clarity.
- Punctuation.
- Mechanics.
- Format.
Suggestions for the Editing Phase of Writing
- Realize that all writers make mistakes as they put ideas on paper. Making mistakes isn’t badnot taking the time to find and correct them is.
- Let a paper sit several days, overnight, or at least a few hours before proofreading it. Budget enough time to proofread thoroughly.
- Read what you have written slowly, looking at every word and every letter so that you see what you have actually written, not what you think is there.
- Read your paper aloud. Speaking forces you to slow down and see more, and sometimes you will hear a mistake you haven’t seen.
- Role-play. Playing the role of the reader encourages you to see the paper as your audience might. Recording your reading allows you to go back and hear your writing from this new perspective.
Strategies to Personalize Proofreading
In addition to using the general strategies already listed, you’ll need to personalize the proofreading process. You will not be able to check for everything (and you don’t have to), so you should find out what your typical problem areas are and look for each type of error individually. Here’s how:
- Find out what errors you typically make. Review instructors’ comments about your writing and review your papers with a writing tutor through the Smarthinking service.
- Learn how to fix those errors. Talk with your instructor and writing tutor. The instructor and the tutor can help you understand why you make the errors you do so that you can learn to avoid them.
Editing Assignment Instructions
- Submit the Local Issues Editing Worksheet. Using the Local Issues Editing Worksheet provided in the resources, review your draft. This worksheet will help you orient yourself to the 20 common errors most learners make when writing in the academic field. Please make sure that you work through each of the worksheet areas so that your draft is solid and complete.
- Submit an edited draft of your text.
You will need to submit both the worksheet and the draft to receive full credit.
- Identify the grammar or punctuation error patterns you can find in your writing.
- Identify the APA editorial style errors you tend to make.
- Arrange the correction of your error patterns into a formal revision plan.
- Identify the resources (with page and section numbers) where you located options for correcting your error patterns.
- Describe the choices that you selected for editing your paper.
- Submit a completed Local Issues Editing Worksheet.
- Submit an edited draft of your project.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to give you feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
Your assignment will be scored on the following criteria:
- Identify grammar and punctuation error patterns.
- Identify APA editorial style errors.
- Arrange the correction of error patterns into a formal revision plan.
- Identify resources used for correcting error patterns.
- Utilize proper mechanics including spelling, grammar, and APA formatting.
