Editing Lesson: Proofreading
- Laura Tichy-Smith
- Jul 5, 2017
- 9 min read
We start your first formal lesson in Freshman Composition I with what seems should be the final lesson — proofreading. Why?
We start here because proofreading your own work is one of the most important writing skills you must master in college. In this era when most people seem to voice dictate messages to their Smartphones, forgetting to proofread before pushing the send button has led to some humorously incorrect messages. Think about how many times Siri has misunderstood you. However, failing to proofread your writing in college classes (not just English class) will lead to losing points needlessly on assignments. Later on, in the workplace, failing to proofread could have far more serious professional consequences. This is why, in a class that is supposed to be about writing and composition, we are starting the first lesson with proofreading rather than writing.
(By the way, using the following excuse for mistakes made on any writing in this class will not be accepted: "I voice-dictated it to my phone, but Siri misunderstood me and put in the wrong word." I like to use the voice dictation function on my phone as well, and I even used the old DragonSpeak voice-dictation program on my computer back in the mid-2000s, but I always proofread what I dictate before I push send because I know that Siri and other voice-dictation programs always misunderstand at least one word in every sentence. Remember how I said in my biography in Module 1 that I am a copy editor for a newspaper? Hint: Proofreading is my thing, and it is a thing I will share with you that will help not only to make you a better writer but also help you later on in your professional life. So, always proofread your work, especially if you use voice dictation.)
ACTIVITY ONE: WATCH THIS VIDEO
Pay careful attention to the commentary on the topic of proofreading in this short, subtitled video of a performance by Taylor Mali, a slam poet and teacher from New York City. Incidentally, the man serving as the emcee (MC) in this video is Billy Collins, who was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. Yes, I can sense you groaning and rolling your eyes from across the internet after you read the word "poet" twice in this paragraph, but tell me on the discussion page if you are still rolling your eyes three minutes and 19 seconds from now.
(If you cannot view the video, you will find a transcript of it at the bottom of this page. If you need help understanding the poem in the video, you will find an interpretation of it posted at the very bottom of the page, beneath the verbatim transcript. (This particular video version was subtitled and uploaded to YouTube by English teacher Hillary Warner, who subtitled it so she could use it more easily in her class.)
As Mali points out in the video, using the spelling and grammar checker built into word processors (such as Microsoft Word) is a great start toward catching errors, but it is not 100 percent foolproof. You cannot rely entirely upon spell checker; you still have to learn and understand the rules of grammar so that you can identify when spell checker has made a mistake. The spell checker can miss some types of errors as well as mistakenly mark some things that are correct as wrong. If you have the auto-correct function set to correct as you type, sometimes Microsoft Word will misinterpret and change the word to something you had no intention of writing without you noticing that it made the change.
Here is a suggestion that can help you improve your proofreading skills: After using spell checker to check your writing, use Microsoft's text-to-voice function to have the computer read your paper out loud to you. I recommend doing this by highlighting one paragraph at a time so you can correct as you go. (You may need to use earphones if the sound would bother other people.) If you cannot use the text-to-voice function on the computer, have a friend read the paper out loud to you instead.
Either way, I have found that errors I overlooked with my eyes popped out at me when I heard the text read to me. I find having someone (either the computer or a friend) reading the work to me works much better than the typical suggestion of reading your own work out loud. Listening to your work is especially useful for pointing out where words are missing. Personally, I am notorious for leaving out words such as "the" and "an." I have found that if I read my own work out loud, or when I have observed other people reading their own work out loud, there is a tendency to "fill in" and insert the missing words that you know should be there and you thought you wrote. When a friend reads the work for you, they are more likely to read what is actually written on the page. When the computer reads it to you, it has no choice but to read exactly what is written; however, sometimes the computer can come up with some awkward pronunciations of some words. On the other hand, one advantage to reading your own work out loud can be that you start changing it as you read and those changes can actually improve the finished product.
None of these methods is perfect, but I have found that, if you layer proofreading methods (use spell checker first, then listen to it read out loud, and then read it out loud yourself), what one method misses the next method catches, leading to a perfect or near-perfect paper. Of course, if you start making changes, you need to go back through and use the proofreading techniques again because you may have accidentally introduced new errors when you made the revisions. Keep checking your work with proofreading techniques until you can no longer find any errors.
ACTIVITY TWO: READ THESE WEB PAGES
Now, learn more about proofreading your work by reading this series of short handouts from the OWL. The abbreviation stands for Purdue University's Online Writing Lab, which is a legendary resource that can help you with nearly any type of academic writing you will ever encounter in college. I suggest you bookmark it.
This week, read the following OWL handouts:
"Beginning Proofreading: Where do I begin?"
"Finding Common Errors"
"Suggestions for Proofreading Your Paper"
"Revising for Cohesion"
"Steps for Revising Your Paper"
ACTIVITY THREE:
POST IN THE DISCUSSION:PROOFREADING
Be sure to complete your initial post by Aug. 30 and then be certain to return to make the required replies by Sept. 3.
EXTRA RESOURCES: VIDEO TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO INTERPRETATION
Use this written transcript and this interpretation of the video if you need extra help in understanding Taylor Mali's video about proofreading.
TRANSCRIPT OF TAYLOR MALI'S VIDEO
(Taylor Mali stands at the microphone in front of a banner that reads "Bowery Poetry Club.")
Mali says, "This is called 'The the impotence of proofreading.'"
(Audience laughs.)
Mali says, "Has this ever happened to you? You work very, very hoard on a paper for English clash and still get a very glow raid on it, like a D or even a D=, and all because you are liverwurst spoiler in the whale wide word. Yes, proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence.
"Now, this is a problem that affects manly, manly students all over the word. I myself was such a bed spiller once upon a term that my English torturer in my sophomoric year, Mrs. Myth, she said that I was never going to get into a good colleague. And that's all I wanted — that's all any kid wants at that age — just to get into a good colleague. And not just anal community colleague, either, because I am not the kind of guy who would be happy at just anal community colleague. I need to be challenged, challenged menstrually."
(Mali points to his head, indicating his mind, as the audience laughs.)
He continues: "I need a place that can offer me intellectual simulation. So, I know this probably makes me sound like a stereo, but I really felt that I could get into an ivory legal colleague. So, if I did not improvement, then gone would be my dream of going to Harvard, Jail, or Prison . . . "
(Audience laughs.)
Mali continues, "You know, in Prison, New Jersey.
"So I got myself a spell checker, and I figured I was on sleazy street. But there are several mist aches that a spell chucker can't can't catch catch. For instant, if you accidentally leave out word, your spell exchequer won't put it in you. And God for billing purposes only you should have serial problems with Tori Spelling. Your spell Chekhov may end up using a word that you had absolutely no detention of using.
"Because, I mean, what do you want it to douche, you know? No! It only does what you tell it to douche! You're the one who's sitting in front of the computer scream with your hand on the mouth going clit, clit, clit. It just goes to show you how embargo one careless little clit of the mouth can be, which reminds me of this one time during my Junior Mint. The teacher took the paper that I had written on 'A Sale of Two Titties,' and . . . "
(Audience interrupts with laughter.)
Mali continues: "No, I am serial, I am serial . . . and she read it out loud in front of all my assmates. It was quite possibly one of the most humidifying experiences I have ever had, being laughed at like that, pubiclly. So do yourself a flavor, and follow these two Pisces of advice."
(Mali holds up one finger.)
He continues, "One, there is no prostitute for careful editing of your own work. No prostitute whatsoever."
(Mali holds up two fingers.)
He continues, "And three . . ."
(Audience interrupts with laughter.)
Mali continues: "When it comes to proofreading, the red penis your friend. Spank you."
(Audience applauds and cheers.)
INTERPRETATION OF TAYLOR MALI'S VIDEO
Taylor Mali's performance at the Bowery Poetry Club is so cleverly written and rolls off his tongue so quickly it can be difficult even for native English speakers to understand every joke. If you had trouble understanding everything, listen to the video again while reading this "corrected" version of the script below. If you are an English as a second language student, I recommend that you copy and paste both the exact transcript of his performance that I have posted above, as well as the corrected version below, into two different translating program screens (such as Google Translate) and compare the translations. Do be aware that translation programs do not produce precise translations. The humor of Mali's performance is largely derived from a word play of his use of incorrect words that sound similar, in English, to the correct words, but the author's choice to use the incorrect words creates risqué, double-entendre jokes.
If the script of Mali's performance were corrected, it would read as follows:
"This is called the importance of proofreading. Has this ever happened to you? You work very, very hard on a paper for English class and still get a very low grade on it, like a D or even a D-, and all because you are the worst speller in the whole wide world. Yes, proofreading your papers is a matter of the utmost importance.
"Now, this is a problem that affects many, many students all over the world. I myself was such a bad speller once upon a time that my English teacher in my sophomore year, Mrs. Smyth, she said that I was never going to get into a good college. And that's all I wanted — that's all any kid wants at that age — just to get into a good college. And not just any community college, either, because I am not the kind of guy who would be happy at just any community college. I need to be challenged, challenged mentally.
"I need a place that can offer me intellectual stimulation. So, I know this probably makes me sound like a stereotype, but I really felt that I could get into an Ivy League college. So, if I did not improve, then gone would be my dream of going to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton . . . You know, in Princeton, New Jersey.
"So, I got myself a spell checker, and I figured I was on easy street. But there are several mistakes that a spell checker can't catch. For instance, if you accidentally leave out a word, your spell checker won't put it in for you. And God forbid you should have serious problems with spelling. Your spell checker may end up using a word that you had absolutely no intention of using.
"Because, I mean, what do you want it to do, you know? No! It only does what you tell it to do! You're the one who's sitting in front of the computer screen with your hand on the mouse going click, click, click. It just goes to show you how embarrassing one careless little click of the mouse can be, which reminds me of this one time during my Junior year. The teacher took the paper that I had written on 'A Tale of Two Cities,' and . . .
"No, I am serious, I am serious . . . and she read it out loud in front of all my classmates. It was quite possibly one of the most humiliating experiences I have ever had, being laughed at like that, publicly. So, do yourself a favor, and follow these two pieces of advice.
"One, there is no substitute for careful editing of your own work. No substitute whatsoever.
"And two . . . When it comes to proofreading, the red pencil is your friend. Thank you."
Note that Taylor Mali provides on his website explicit permission for educational use of his poems: https://taylormali.com/contact/seeking-permission/
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