Proofreading by & for friends and other students
Many students like to ask friends to have a final look at their written work. Some prefer to exchange their texts with one friend, others have established a network of mutual peer-proofreading. Asking a friend or colleague to proofread a text offers an opportunity to test your own arguments and to get a fresh perspective on your writing. The more formal or public a text is, the more students’ wish to get an external view on their writing as they want to make sure it is without mistakes and comprehensive. External proofreading also offers the possibility to get new inspiration and new ideas of how to phrase your own ideas. Especially non-native English speakers feel more secure when they can get their work checked by a friend.
I had this very funny story in which I was writing a paper on Freud. I have read it five times and it seemed perfectly ok. So I asked one of my friends, who is actually a guitar instructor, to read it. After a few minutes he asked 'So, why is this Fred?' And I 'Fred?' 'Yeah, Fred seems to be a smart guy'. So I realised that I have been so much into the text that instead of writing 'Freud' I have written 'Fred'!
PhD student in Sociology from Turkey
On the other hand writing might be a very private and intimate process for some students and they do not want to expose themselves to the critique of friends or colleagues. Sometimes this insecurity is so strong that giving the text away to someone seems far too intimidating. Instead of giving in to this anxiety, students might address their insecurity to their proofreading friends and colleague or discuss it with someone they have no personal relations with, such as professional proofreaders or staff from the Language Studies department.
Finding a proofreader
Some students find it difficult to find friends who are willing and able to read their texts. First, one needs to find someone who agrees to spend some of his or her time without a direct reward, on proofreading other people's work. Further, this person needs to be reliable to provide good proofreading and correct the text with constant attention and accuracy.
My brother usually reads my texts, which are mainly cover letters for my applications. I don't really let other people read my university papers. I don't want them to read them. These are my thoughts and private and personal. My essays are mainly for my lecturer.
MA Global Media student from the Netherlands
Third, some students like to get their texts proofread by friends who are familiar with their discipline, others prefer to test their arguments on readers who are unfamiliar with it. As proofreading someone's work requires a lot of time and particular skills, there is always the question of what you give your proofreader in return. Some students have developed a mutual system in which they exchange texts on a regular basis, others invite their proofreaders out for a dinner or concert. Especially when it comes to very long texts like the final thesis or last minute proofreading, one needs to have a reliable proofreader. Therefore establishing networks of peer-proofreading in which colleagues and friends help each other on a mutual basis is an important aspect of proofreading.
I think it is quite difficult to find someone who takes his or her time proofread a text. For small texts, I have several colleagues who are willing to do the proofreading. But it often takes a couple of days to find someone who does not only look at the first pages but corrects the whole text including the bibliography. I found it very difficult to find someone who will read long texts.
PhD student in Sociology from Switzerland
Proofreading your friends' texts
Proofreading becomes a hassle when someone gives me something to read and it is just a bad translation. A Turkish friend of mine recently wrote an English job application. In Turkish it was very good but the English version was horrible. I told him 'This sounds very nice in Turkish but when you put it in English it doesn't work'. And what happened then was, that I was not only proofreading it, I was rewriting it for him.
PhD Student in Sociology from Turkey