PROOFREADING TUTORIAL

So, what’s the big deal about proofreading? Good writing is about a lot more than good grammar, just like basketball is about more than good dribbling. So why this obsession over typos, misspellings and grammar slips? Two reasons. First, judgment. Someone who doesn’t know a dangling participle from a dangling dinner guest can spot a typo. That typo can then be used to negatively judge you, your writing, even your intelligence. Don’t believe me? Here’s an article from the Harvard Business Review entitled “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar.” Author Kyle Wiens is CEO of iFixit. This CEO writes: People who mix up their “its” and “it’s” deserve to be passed over for a job, even if they are otherwise qualified for the position. I have a ‘zero tolerance approach’ to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid. Although there is no known relationship between obviously does not prevent others, whether employers or professors, from judging you based on easy-to-spot surface errors. This second reason might surprise you: It’s impossible too oops! need to correct that typo) impossible to accurately proofread your own writing. This fact makes it likely you’ll leave some type of error unless you take active measures. Why can’t you proofread your own work accurately? When writing, your mind creates a mental image of meaning that you attempt to transfer to the page. The catch is, while your mental image may be perfect, what ends up on the page may not be. When someone else reads your writing, the process happens in reverse: The reader looks first at the words on the page and then constructs a mental image. What a difference! You, the writer, have lying on top of the page, like a piece of wax paper, your perfect mental image that can prevent you from seeing clearly what’s there. The reader, on the other hand, sees the cold reality of the page, black squiggles on a white background, without any filter. That’s why the first proofreading tip is to ICE IT--put the writing away until your mental image has faded and no longer obscures the reality of what’s on the page. But the problem with ICE IT is time--It can take days or weeks for the mental image to fade enough. Few people, least of all students, have that time. We need tools we can apply immediately. One of the best is text-to-speech. These software programs let you hear what you wrote in someone else’s voice. In other words, you get to process your writing as a listener, not its creator. There are literally 100s of free text-to-speech programs out there that do the job. Our favorite is NaturalReader.com. It’s free, web-based (nothing to download) and offers drag and drop simplicity. NaturalReader can read 10 types of documents, has 18 English voices, and speed control in its free version. Many other text-to-speech programs can be found at review sites like TechRadar.com and elearning.com. The bottom line: Listening to someone else read your document helps you know what is and isn’t on the page. Another exciting technology for writers is the new AI-based spelling, style and grammar checkers. “Wait a minute,” you say, “Microsoft Word has offered its built-in auto checker since 1995!” And you’re right. But Word’s checker uses simple algorithms based on matching. Today’s advanced grammar, spelling and style checkers use artificial intelligence to understand the context of what is written, to make predictions and give insights about your writing. There’s no comparison between the simple spellcheckers of old and today’s advanced systems. Currently there are two of these products—Grammarly and Ginger.