Proof That Proofreading is Important
What is one of the most important steps in writing
a paper? Is it getting a good idea formulated, Writing down your ideas, or forming
at least three paragraphs for the body of your paper? These qualities are very important
when writing a paper, but I would argue that finding a trustworthy proofreader
is one of the most important steps. This step is important for several reasons.
Wells, Mia, Sousa & Brizee suggest taking time after
writing and editing you can keep this from
happening in your papers. “Get others involved. Asking a friend or a Writing
Lab tutor to read your paper will let you get another perspective on your
writing and a fresh reader will be able to help you catch mistakes that you might
have overlooked”, the site goes on to say that having a proofreader is
important to pick up on the use of the correct punctuation, and spelling, which
can be the difference between a bad paper and a great paper. A proofreader can
also find unnecessary words or sentences, and point out anything that is
unclear. Writers grow a sort of emotional connection with parts of their paper
and that can make deleting a section very difficult. This is why a new set of
eyes and a new view on the topic of the paper can significantly improve your
work.
In order for any paper to flow nicely,
you should use proper punctuation. The placement of commas, apostrophes,
periods, and other punctuation can drastically change the meaning of a
sentence. For example, take the
sentence: Let’s eat, Grandma. Know what it means? Now, leave out the comma: Let’s
eat Grandma. What a difference! The first sentence would imply Grandma coming over for supper. The second would imply Grandma being the supper.
Spelling also makes a difference in the meaning of a
sentence. It can be humiliating if you
get it wrong and say something totally different than what you meant. A great example is in the title of Taylor
Mali’s (2008) Youtube clip. It is
titled, The Impotence of Proofreading.
He obviously missed something of importance!
Mali used this misspelling as a humorous example to illustrate what can happen
if you just submit your work without proofreading. A good example of commonly misspelled words is
‘there, their, and they’re.’ 1. They’re supposed to meet there to get
their awards. 2. Their supposed to meet
they’re to get there awards. As you can see from the example I’ve shown, it
can be easy to get these mixed up. A
proofreader will pick up on mistakes like these allowing your reader to
understand the meaning of your words.
The
website, Papercheck says, “to make sure that the document adheres to the rules
of the formatting style that you are using, whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago,
CSE, or some other” (Papercheck, 2013).
A good proofreader will guide you in the correct direction on your
citations, so you are not plagiarizing. You
will be appreciative of the proofreader’s advice when you use turnitin.com and
get a low percentage of plagiarism. This could save you a lot of time in having
to re-write the paper.
When
we proofread our own work, it is easy to mentally insert words we have written
even though the words are not actually there.
We may not catch important corrections needed in spelling, punctuation,
and citations. Heather A. Taylor,
Coordinator of the McCann Writing Center comments, “When you’re writing a
paper, especially a long one, a second set of eyes is very important. You live with something so long that you
begin to read it like you have it in your head and not how it is on the
paper. There’s no shame in having a
reader—I have people read my work before I make it public” (2013). If even expert writers use outside
proofreaders, then student writers should make it a habit, too. Try it and see how it helps your papers!
References
Dan,
2012. 5 Tips To Writing A Better College
Scholarship Essay
Retrieved from
http://www.thecampuscompanion.com/2012/11/05/5-tips-to-writing-a- better-college-scholarship-essay/#.UYBRA1TD_RY
Heather
A. Taylor, Coordinator of the McCann Writing Center
Mali,
T. (2008). The the impotence of proofreading. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ
Papercheck,
2013. The Importance of Proofreading Retrieved
from http://www.papercheck.com/proofreading.html
Wells,
J., Mia, M., Sousa, M., & Brizee, A. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/01/
