HW6

Improving Editing Skills: Various Errors Dire c t e d L e arning Ac t iv it y — P unc t uat ion & M e c hanic s 08

Essential Question How can I improve my editing skills and locate common errors in my writing?

Purpose Upon completion of this activity, students will be able to find and fix common errors.

This DLA should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Instruction Read the tips below detailing some ways to help you find and fix errors in your own papers. After the

reading, you will find an activity to practice.

Have you ever found it difficult to proofread your own papers? Have you ever said to yourself that you

just can see your own mistakes? This is common. As a writer, you are often too close to your own

writing to be able to see what mistakes are present. After all, you are the one who wrote the words you

see in front of you. You know best what you meant to say. Then, your brain, being the wonderful

machine that it is, fills in any gaps that might be present, so when you read your papers to yourself, it is

very easy to miss the errors that might be there.

To help you be a better editor of your own papers, here are some suggestions for improving your editing

skills:

1) Take the time to double check your work before turning it in. Don’t just type your paper, print it

(or submit it), and turn it in. Save some time before printing (or submitting) to re-read what you

have written.

2) Get some distance from your work. Even better than re-reading before submitting is re-reading

after stepping away from your writing for a period of time. Even an hour or two can give you

some perspective on your words and any errors that might be in the paper.

3) Use the tools available to you. This includes using spell check or reading software on your

computer, but it also includes saving time to meet with an instructor or a tutor.

4) Print your paper out. Reading on a screen and reading a paper in your hand are two different

tasks. Having the paper in hand makes it easier for you to read one line at a time by covering up

portions of the text with a ruler or paper. Having a printed paper also makes it easier to read

backwards, or reading sentence by sentence from the last sentence to the first. It is easier to

spot errors when you are reading not for content but for sentence structure and surface errors.

5) Read your papers aloud. Your eye may pass right over a missing or misspelled little word like a

missing “the” or a misspelled “to,” so read aloud. Read each word as it is written—and not what

you want to be written—and read more slowly that you would speak so you can hear what is

said. You will be amazed at how many errors you can catch just by doing this!

Exercise STEP 1: Using the key below, and the tips for editing your papers that you just learned, find the ten

errors listed, and make the corrections directly in the paragraph. Each sentence has at least one error.

• 1 point of view error 2 missing commas

• 1 fragment 2 unnecessary commas

• 1 fused sentence (run on) 2 capitalization errors

• 1 subject-pronoun error

Taking an english course can cause a great deal of stress. Especially if a student is also taking other

courses and working. However students can lessen their stress by following a few simple steps. First,

students should be willing to see their Instructor during office hours to get extra help this simple act

can end up giving them valuable insight into their writing strengths and weaknesses. Students

should also be willing to use the Writing and Reading Center for more than just typing papers, and

reading their textbook. While asking an instructor for help can be intimidating when an instructor is

asked for help in a certain way, the results can be quite beneficial. Most importantly, students

should consider his or her attitude. You should try to think of the class as merely one of several that

gets them one step closer to their goal of earning a college degree. While taking an English course is

not easy, students who work hard, and follow these steps can increase their chances of passing.

STEP 2: Using a paper you are currently writing, edit for errors using the tips listed above. See how many

you find.

Review your answers with an instructor or tutor in the Virtual Writing & Reading Center. Be sure you can

answer the essential question above.