Doing your own proofreading
Most students would agree that proofreading is an essential part of writing. Yet proofreading is an aspect of writing that is much less discussed and reflected on than the argument or the content of a text. During their education, most students develop an individual and intuitive approach towards proofreading. Very often proofreading is not consciously thought about but becomes something that you do automatically. However, in the current context of higher education, where issues of writing are often highlighted as a problem, the concept of proofreading has taken on a more complex role and can set up a number of dilemmas which we think it is important to be aware of.
Proofreading - the final step when writing a text might range from correcting mere technical spelling or punctuation errors to re-arranging the structure of the text. It is a "grey area" in which it is often difficult to tell when proofreading ends and where editing and rewriting starts.
This website wants to create awareness of the different dimensions of proofreading and the underlying importance it signals of communicating one's thoughts as clearly as possible to different audiences.
I have never thought in details about the aspects of proofreading. For me it is a normal part of my writing. When I write a text I will read it again or give it to some friends but I have never thought about specific aspects of how to do it.
MA Social Research student from the UK
Usually, students do not proofread every text in the same way but adjust their focus and efforts according to the kind of text, its readers and the formality of the context. An informal email might be double checked for spelling mistakes whereas an academic essay might be proofread and edited several times.
Aspects and techniques of proofreading
Proofreading can be roughly divided into two different kinds of attention to detail: the more technical aspects which tend to be either right or wrong, and the more creative aspects, where there is no right answer.
Technical
- grammar - and spell-check
- punctuation
- syntax
- correct citation
Creative
- use of language and discipline-specific vocabulary
- coherence of the argument
- logic and structure of the argument
- clarity
- style, including a sense of projecting your own individual voice
For many students an essential aspect of proofreading is to create distance from their text. During the process of writing students work so intensely on their arguments that they might get "blind" to their mistakes and choice of language. Many writers therefore decide to take a longer or shorter break before starting the proofreading process with a fresh eye and from a more distanced perspective.
Other techniques to distance you from the text are:
- proofread a printout version rather than on screen
- reading the text aloud
- changing the font size on the computer
- reading sentences backwards to detect spelling mistakes
- keep a list of your common errors and read the text according to it
Most students develop their own techniques and tricks in proofreading, to suit their needs and working habits.
It is good to leave your text for a while to get some distance from what you have written. You don't need to wait for a week. But if you sleep over it and them read your text again it is like an unfamiliar text and you see it from a new perspective. In terms of being in a creative process you are actually in a different mindset if you look at the text later. It is really difficult to proofread something you have just written because it is just so difficult to see all of your mistakes.
MA Global Media student from the Netherlands
Communicating your ideas
PhD student in Sociology from Spain
When thinking about "good style" in writing, it might be helpful to be aware of three factors:
- content
- context
- readers
The process of writing is also a process of communication of ideas, of establishing a relationship with your readers and positioning yourself within a discipline. A rather safe way of writing within academia is to aim for coherence and clarity in which the paragraphs fit together, the arguments evolve in a linear way and a rather clear language is chosen to avoid distraction.
Writing for an institution or a supervisor is also always a negotiation of your relationship with the readers. Some students feel more comfortable addressing their readers in the most clear and straightforward way. Others prefer to play with the conventions of academic writing and start experimenting with language or structure. The majority of students, as we found out during the research project, find a coherent, clear style most appealing, also one which is not dry but has a colourful, personal note.
Finally writing is a very personal process in which your taste and your ability to use language in a creative way shape the text as much as institutional expectations.
Proofreading in time
Another issue that structures students' proofreading to a large extent is time. During the actual proofreading process, time informs how close to or detached students are from their text. The more time you spend writing a text intensively or the more often you read it, the better you know your own arguments and might lose distance from them. Within this stage of 'over-proofreading', students often cannot see their mistakes any more and need some time to distance themselves from their writing. Whether such time is available or not is dependent on the time management and the approaching deadline. As proofreading is the last step before handing an assignment in or sending a text to its readers, it can easily happen that time is cut off from it.
On the other hand most students have experienced the fact that there is never really an end to proofreading as there are endless possibilities to improve a text. You can always find better ways to phrase an argument or structure a thought. In the end it is usually the approaching deadline that brings the never-ending process of proofreading to an end.
I was taught that writing is re-writing. The process of writing is never ending - you are always revising. It can be on a superficial level by looking at grammar and punctuation, but it can also concern the improvement of your argument, your style and your ideas. You are constantly rethinking and revising your text.
PhD student in Sociology from the USA
