Module Overview:
After drafting and revising to make sure that we’ve communicated our ideas clearly and effectively, we can take time to make sure that our writing reflects that hard work that we’ve put into it. At the editing and proofreading stages of the writing process, we check our work to make sure that it’s consistent, clear, and error-free. This resource covers a few basic strategies for editing and proofreading our work.
Analyzing Sentence Structure
Writing can sound repetitive, and even unclear, if we do not vary our sentence structure enough. Typically, you should try to avoid series of very short or very long sentences; instead, try to make your sentences vary in length.
Reading Aloud
Reading a piece of writing out loud is an excellent way to check for repetition, find typos, and get a general sense of the flow of your paper. Though reading out loud might feel uncomfortable, it is a strategy that can help you see your paper in a new light, thus helping you to improve it considerably.
Keeping a Checklist
If you know that you tend to have specific issues with your writing, keeping an editing or proofreading checklist is a good way to ensure that you’ve addressed all these issues before submitting your work for class or publication. A sample checklist might look like this:
- Verb tense
- Comma consistency
- Capitalization
Module Objectives:
- Identify the most common errors in writing.
- Acquire the skills to be able to edit and revise your own work.
Where Do I Begin?
Proofreading can be a difficult process, especially when you’re not sure where to start or what this process entails. Think of proofreading as a process of looking for any inconsistencies and grammatical errors as well as style and spelling issues. Below are a few general strategies that can help you get started.
GENERAL STRATEGIES BEFORE YOU PROOFREAD
- Make sure that you leave plenty of time after you have finished your paper to walk away for a day or two, a week, or even 20 minutes. This will allow you to approach proofreading with fresh eyes.
- Print out a hard copy. Reading from a computer screen is not the most effective way to proofread. Having a hardcopy of your paper and a pen will help you.
- Have a list of what to look for. This will help you manage your time and not feel overwhelmed by proofreading. You can get this list from previous assignments where your instructor(s) noted common errors you make.
GENERAL STRATEGIES WHILE YOU PROOFREAD
- Don’t rush. Many mistakes in writing occur because we rush. Read slowly and carefully to give your eyes enough time to spot errors.
- Read aloud. Reading aloud helps you to notice run-on sentences, awkward transitions, and other grammatical and organization issues that you may not notice when reading silently. There are three ways you can read aloud:
- Read aloud to yourself. Reading a paper aloud encourages you to read each word and can help you notice small mistakes.
- Read aloud to a friend and have the friend give you oral feedback.
- Have a friend read your paper aloud while you don’t read along.
- Use the search in document function of the computer to look for common errors from your list.
- Read from the end. Read individual sentences one at a time starting from the end of the paper rather than the beginning. This forces you to pay attention to the sentence itself rather than to the ideas of the paper as a whole.
- Role-play. While reading, put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Playing the role of the reader encourages you to see the paper as your audience might.
WHEN YOU ARE DONE
- Have a friend look at your paper after you have made all the corrections you identified. A new reader will be able to help you catch mistakes that you might have overlooked.
- Make an appointment with a Writing Lab tutor if you have any further questions or want someone to teach you more about proofreading.
- Ask your teacher to look at the areas you usually have trouble with to see if you have made any progress.
Finding Common Errors
Here are some common proofreading issues that come up for many writers. For grammatical or spelling errors, try underlining or highlighting words that often trip you up. On a sentence level, take note of which errors you make frequently. Also make note of common sentence errors you have such as run-on sentences, comma splices, or sentence fragments—this will help you proofread more efficiently in the future.
LEFT-OUT AND DOUBLED WORDS
Read the paper slowly aloud to make sure you haven’t missed or repeated any words. Also, try reading your paper one sentence at a time in reverse—this will enable you to focus on the individual sentences.
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
Sentence fragments are sections of a sentence that are not grammatically whole sentences. For example, “Ate a sandwich” is a sentence fragment because it lacks a subject.
Make sure each sentence has a subject:
- “Looked at the OWL website.” is a sentence fragment without a subject.
- “The students looked at the OWL website.” Adding the subject “students” makes it a complete sentence.
Make sure each sentence has a complete verb.
- “They trying to improve their writing skills.” is an incomplete sentence because “trying” is an incomplete verb.
- “They were trying to improve their writing skills.” In this sentence, “were” is necessary to make “trying” a complete verb.
See that each sentence has an independent clause. Remember that a dependent clause cannot stand on its own. In the following examples, green highlighting indicates dependent clauses while yellow indicates independent clauses.
- “Which is why the students read all of the handouts carefully.” This is a dependent clause that needs an independent clause. As of right now, it is a sentence fragment.
- “Students knew they were going to be tested on the handouts, which is why they read all of the handouts carefully.” The first part of the sentence, “Students knew they were going to be tested,” is an independent clause. Pairing it with a dependent clause makes this example a complete sentence.
RUN-ON SENTENCES
- Review each sentence to see whether it contains more than one independent clause.
- If there is more than one independent clause, check to make sure the clauses are separated by the appropriate punctuation.
- Sometimes, it is just as effective (or even more so) to simply break the sentence into two separate sentences instead of including punctuation to separate the clauses.
Examples:
- Run on: “I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports all I know about the subject is that I’m interested in it.” These are two independent clauses without any punctuation or conjunctions separating the two.
- Edited version: “I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports, and all I know about the subject is that I’m interested in it.” The two highlighted portions are independent clauses. They are connected by the appropriate conjunction “and,” and a comma.
- Another edited version: “I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports. All I know about the subject is that I’m interested in it.” In this case, these two independent clauses are separated into individual sentences separated by a period and capitalization.
COMMA SPLICES
- Look closely at sentences that have commas.
- See if the sentence contains two independent clauses. Independent clauses are complete sentences.
- If there are two independent clauses, they should be connected with a comma and a conjunction (and, but, for, or, so, yet, nor). Commas are not needed for some subordinating conjunctions (because, for, since, while, etc.) because these conjunctions are used to combine dependent and independent clauses.
- Another option is to take out the comma and insert a semicolon instead.
Examples:
- Comma Splice: “I would like to write my paper about basketball, it’s a topic I can talk about at length.” The highlighted portions are independent clauses. A comma alone is not enough to connect them.
- Edited version: “I would like to write my paper about basketball because it’s a topic I can talk about at length.” Here, the yellow highlighted portion is an independent clause while the green highlighted portion is a dependent clause. The subordinating conjunction “because” connects these two clauses.
- Edited version, using a semicolon: “I would like to write my paper about basketball; it’s a topic I can talk about at length.” Here, a semicolon connects two similar independent clauses.
SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT
- Find the subject of each sentence.
- Find the verb that goes with the subject.
- The subject and verb should match in number, meaning that if the subject is plural, the verb should be as well.
- An easy way to do this is to underline all subjects. Then, circle or highlight the verbs one at a time and see if they match.
Examples:
- Incorrect subject verb agreement: “Students at the university level usually is very busy.” Here, the subject “students” is plural, and the verb “is” is singular, so they don’t match.
- Edited version: “Students at the university level usually are very busy.” “Are” is a plural verb that matches the plural noun, “students.”
MIXED CONSTRUCTION
Read through your sentences carefully to make sure that they do not start with one sentence structure and shift to another. A sentence that does this is called a mixed construction.
Examples:
- “Since I have a lot of work to do is why I can’t go out tonight.” Both green highlighted sections of the sentence are dependent clauses. Two dependent clauses do not make a complete sentence.
- Edited version: “Since I have a lot of work to do, I can’t go out tonight.” The green highlighted portion is a dependent clause while the yellow is an independent clause. Thus, this example is a complete sentence.
PARALLELISM
Look through your paper for series of items, usually separated by commas. Also, make sure these items are in parallel form, meaning they all use a similar form.
- Example: “Being a good friend involves listening, to be considerate, and that you know how to have fun.” In this example, “listening” is in present tense, “to be” is in the infinitive form, and “that you know how to have fun” is a sentence fragment. These items in the series do not match up.
- Edited version: “Being a good friend involves listening, being considerate, and having fun.” In this example, “listening,” “being,” and “having” are all in the present continuous (-ing endings) tense. They are in parallel form.
PRONOUN REFERENCE/AGREEMENT
- Skim your paper, searching for pronouns.
- Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces.
- If you can’t find any nouns, insert one beforehand or change the pronoun to a noun.
- If you can find a noun, be sure it agrees in number and person with your pronoun.
Examples:
- “Sam had three waffles for breakfast. He wasn’t hungry again until lunch.” Here, it is clear that Sam is the “he” referred to in the second sentence. Thus, the singular third person pronoun, “he,” matches with Sam.
- “Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. The dog bit her.” In this case, it is unclear who the dog bit because the pronoun, “her,” could refer to either Teresa or Ariel.
- “Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Later, it bit them.” Here, the third person plural pronoun, “them,” matches the nouns that precede it. It’s clear that the dog bit both people.
- “Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Teresa unhooked the leash, and the dog bit her.” In these sentences, it is assumed that Teresa is the “her” in the second sentence because her name directly precedes the singular pronoun, “her.”
APOSTROPHES
- Skim your paper, stopping only at those words which end in “s.” If the “s” is used to indicate possession, there should be an apostrophe, as in “Mary’s book.”
- Look over the contractions, like “you’re” for “you are,” “it’s” for “it is,” etc. Each of these should include an apostrophe.
- Remember that apostrophes are not used to make words plural. When making a word plural, only an “s” is added, not an apostrophe and an “s.”
Examples:
- “It’s a good day for a walk.” This sentence is correct because “it’s” can be replaced with “it is.”
- “A bird nests on that tree. See its eggs?” In this case, “its” is a pronoun describing the noun, “bird.” Because it is a pronoun, no apostrophe is needed.
- “Classes are cancelled today” is a correct sentence whereas “Class’s are cancelled today” is incorrect because the plural form of class simply adds an “-es” to the end of the word.
- “Sandra’s markers don’t work.” Here, Sandra needs an apostrophe because the noun is a possessive one. The apostrophe tells the reader that Sandra owns the markers.
Suggestions for Proofreading Your Paper
One of the most difficult parts of the writing process is proofreading. It is easy for us to see what we want to see, not necessarily what our readers will see. These suggestions should help you take a step back and view your writing more objectively.
READ YOUR PAPER ALOUD
Any time your text is awkward or confusing, or any time you have to pause or reread your text, revise this section. If it is at all awkward for you, you can bet it will be awkward for your reader.
EXAMINE YOUR PARAGRAPHS
Examine the overall construction of your paragraphs, looking specifically at length, supporting sentence(s), and topic sentence. Individual paragraphs that are significantly lacking length or sufficient supporting information as well as those missing a topic sentence may be a sign of a premature or under-developed thought.
TRACK FREQUENT ERRORS
Keep track of errors that you make frequently. Ask your teacher or visit the Writing Lab for assistance in eliminating these errors.
Remember Your AP Style Notes
The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Some guiding principles behind AP style are:
- Consistency
- Clarity
- Accuracy
- Brevity
AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language.
COMMON STYLE GUIDELINES
The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, that medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.
As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.
Addresses
For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road. If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Here are some examples of correctly formatted addresses: 101 N. Grant St., Northwestern Avenue, South Ninth Street, 102 S. 10th St., 605 Woodside Drive.
Ages
For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.
Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions
Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.
Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.
Do not underline or italicize any of the above.
Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week
For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.
Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.
If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.
Datelines
Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:
- DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began…
- ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began…
- YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group…
Dimensions
When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.
Miles
Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.
Names
Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.
Numerals
Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.
Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.
For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.
For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.
When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.
Punctuation
Use a single space after a period.
Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University’s English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.
Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Purdue game.”
States and Cities
When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. When the name of a city and state are used together, the name of the state should be abbreviated (except for Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah). States should also be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill.
Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):
| State Abbreviations | |
| Ala. (AL) | Neb. (NE) |
| Ariz. (AZ) | Nev. (NV) |
| Ark. (AR) | N.H. (NH) |
| Calif. (CA) | N.J. (NJ) |
| Colo. (CO) | N.M. (NM) |
| Conn. (CT) | N.Y. (NY) |
| Del. (DE) | N.C. (NC) |
| Fla. (FL) | N.D. (ND) |
| Ga. (GA) | Okla. (OK) |
| Ill. (IL) | Ore. (OR) |
| Ind. (IN) | Pa. (PA) |
| Kan. (KS) | R.I. (RI) |
| Ky. (KY) | S.C. (SC) |
| La. (LA) | S.D. (SD) |
| Md. (MD) | Tenn. (TN) |
| Mass. (MA) | Vt. (VT) |
| Mich. (MI) | Va. (VA) |
| Minn. (MN) | Wash. (WA) |
| Miss. (MS) | W.Va. (WV) |
| Mo. (MO) | Wis. (WI) |
| Mont. (MT) | Wyo. (WY) |
You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.
AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:
| Cities Not Requiring State Names | |
| Atlanta | Phoenix |
| Baltimore | Pittsburgh |
| Boston | St. Louis |
| Chicago | Salt Lake City |
| Cincinnati | San Antonio |
| Cleveland | San Diego |
| Dallas | San Francisco |
| Denver | Seattle |
| Detroit | Washington |
| Honolulu | |
| Houston | |
| Indianapolis | |
| Las Vegas | |
| Los Angeles | |
| Miami | |
| Milwaukee | |
| Minneapolis | |
| New Orleans | |
| New York | |
| Oklahoma City | |
| Philadelphia |
Times
The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00. Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.
Titles
Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.
Technological Terms
Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:
- BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
- download
- eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
- e-book
- e-book reader
- e-reader
- cellphone
- Google, Googling, Googled
- hashtag
- IM (IMed, IMing; for first reference, use instant messenger)
- internet
- iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
- social media
- smartphone
- Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
- World Wide Web, website (see the AP’s tweet (Links to an external site.) about the change), Web page
- webmaster
- YouTube
Hayden Coombs 