What are you learning to help you proofread and edit effectively? What editing tips can you give your readers? As you apply what you are learning, what results are you seeing in your writing?
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Meet Dona,
Dona J. Young is a teacher, facilitator, and writing coach who believes that writing is a powerful learning tool that shapes our lives and careers. In addition to teaching professional writing online, she designs and facilitates corporate training programs on effective writing and communication.
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Proofreading and editing is something that all writers can continue to improve on. Some editing tips that I am learning include reviewing certain concepts, such as correct comma usage and verb forms. I find this very helpful because it is easy to forget some grammar rules, even if they aren’t necessarily hard. Most rules can be reviewed and relearned very quickly, and many websites offer multiple examples of the correct and incorrect forms to make it very clear.
Some other editing skills I have learned would be to use different vocabulary words, but to not make them too distracting. This year I’ve learned that being clear and concise is the most effective way to get a point across in writing. Instead of ‘fluffing’ up writing, it is usually better to use fewer words with more meaning to them.
Sentence fluency is also something that should be strived for. To achieve this, you need to focus on parallel structure. Sentences should not be choppy, but should read with ease. The same verb tenses should be used.
Active voice should be used whenever possible. Active voice engages the reader more than passive voice does. Active voice performs the action while passive voice describes it. By using active voice, the reader will usually be more interested in the reader and understand it easier because it is more direct.
Overall, I learned that writing can never be perfect, but can always be improved. I have seen my writing become more concise and direct as result of following these editing skills. I hope to continue to apply all the skills I have learned thus far and to learn more in the future!
I am learning the concepts every time I read a new chapter in this course. I am learning that less is more. For example, while writing, people tend to ramble when they run out of things to say. In this scenario the writer should get straight to the point so the reader understands what you are trying to say.
Proofreading is a must when it comes to writing. I have always had a bad habit of not re-reading my writing because I was fearful of finding too many errors causing me to do more work. You should not be afraid to write! Once you learn key concepts writing will become easier and less fearful.
Since I have taken the time to proofread and edit my writing, I am starting to notice that the papers I receive are A’s and B’s. I am noticing that simple proofreading can go a long way.
Proofreading and editing are both very important skills in writing. When we are younger we learned how to proofread simple sentences, but I feel that we do not practice these skills ourselves as we get older. Our teachers proofread for us and we make edits off of those corrections by the teacher. The two books assigned for this class have been extremely informative, but also confusing to me. Everything mentioned in these books makes complete sense, but is not easily able to be put into practice right now. An example of this would be the “less is better” concept. Of course making sentences simpler and shorter would help the reader, but most of the time teachers and professors expect the opposite. They want you to use more complicated and in depth sentences. They usually give specific page or word minimums and this adds pressure to us a students. I think that in the business world these goals of writing less and using simpler words will benefit us, but right now they do not. However, I do believe that refreshing on simple things, such as commas, colons, ellipses, etc., is a great way to help us editing our own papers right now. I think that simple rules that we learned long ago can sometimes be forgotten and “The Writer’s Handbook” is full of useful information to help double-check old skills that may have been forgotten.
Some editing tips I would give to readers is to find the most comfortable way for you to organize your thoughts. Books have stated multiple ways to organize thoughts such as outlines, free writing, or thinking webs, but not all of these ideas may work for a person. Finding the best way to putting your thoughts on the paper will help you figure out what needs to be done editing your paper down the road. It reminds the writer what their focus was and helps keep them on track on their purpose of writing. Once all the thoughts are organized in the paper then all that is left is correcting spelling and grammar errors. This can be easy with the help of spelling and grammar checks on Microsoft Word. A word of advice is to not rely on only this tool. There are times when words are spelled correctly, but is the wrong spelling of the word you intended to use. Do not fall into that trap of relying solely on computers for this.
I do not think a lot has honestly changed about my writing. I am now a lot more aware of things to look for when writing, but there is no significant change overall of how I write now compared to how I write before. I try to have more people proofread my papers when I do not feel confident about my work, but other than that I keep the tips given in the book in the back of my mind at all times. Like I stated earlier, the book is full of great information, but it does not really fit in the assignments I do now in school compared to the work I will do out in the real business world.
Taking this class has been very helpful in many ways. One of the things that is sticking to me is the “less is more” concept. Since Middle School, I have always tried to come up with sentences so that I can meet the 3-5 page requirement. I feel it is a bit rough and confusing trying to focus on the “less is more” concept when people have been forced to do more writing than they really need. Sometimes people are able to get their point across in just a page or two. This concept is getting easier as I continue to learn more in this class. It can be challenging when trying to summarize something because of the information is important, but when you gather your own thoughts, you are able to make things more simple.
Proofreading is very important when it comes to writing. Before sending your letter/document, you want to make sure there are no errors. I believe people tend to forget to proofread because they feel as they are writing, they are understanding what is being typed. But there is more to proofreading and editing. Writing is becoming more and more difficult as we age, and it is up to us to keep up with it. In elementary school, we were not taught how to properly edit letters we would write our parents on Christmas. As we get older, it is important that we know and understand these things. Homophones can be so simple, yet very confusing. Someone might not know whether to do “affect” or “effect” so they just guess. What I have learned this week was very helpful, because I myself have problems at times. People may also have hard times figuring out which punctuation mark to use or unsure where to even put it. The Writers Handbook provides great examples on when to use a colon, dash, etc. and I found it very helpful as well.
Some tips I would give to my readers would be to relax. Do not over-think your writing. Over-thinking will lead you to believe that you are doing too much or too little. If you have to, make an outline before writing. A lot of writers are successful making outlines. Writers are also successful free writing. Whatever you may feel comfortable doing, go for it. You do not want to step out of your comfort zone, and question whether your writing is good or not.
Overall, I’ve learned that it is a lot better and effective to be concise and get to the point quickly. If the information you are providing isn’t needed in the paragraph, leave it out. When people are reading, they want to know the important stuff. Although no writing is perfect, it can continue to be improved if practiced. Whether it improves in your next piece of writing, or the fifth one, it will improve if you put the time and effort. This class if very beneficial and I hope to continue learning more about writing for the future. By being a nursing major, I need to know and focus on this as much as possible because I will be doing a lot of writing as well as talking. Going into my career, I do not want to be afraid to speak to others because I am uneducated. I will make sure I am educated and continue to further my education by writing.
Taking this class has been very helpful in many ways. One of the things that is sticking to me is the “less is more” concept. Since Middle School, I have always tried to come up with sentences so that I can meet the 3-5 page requirement teachers want us to meet. I feel it is a bit rough and confusing trying to focus on the “less is more” concept when people have been forced to do more writing than they really need. Sometimes people are able to get their point across in just a page or two. This concept is getting easier as I continue to learn more in this class. It can be challenging when trying to summarize something because of the information is important, but when you gather your own thoughts, you are able to make things more simple.
Proofreading is very important when it comes to writing. Before sending your letter/document, you want to make sure there are no errors. I believe people tend to forget to proofread because they feel as they are writing, they are understanding what is being typed. But there is more to proofreading and editing. Writing is becoming more and more difficult as we age, and it is up to us to keep up with it. In elementary school, we were not taught how to properly edit letters we would write our parents on Christmas. As we get older, it is important that we know and understand these things. We need to make sure the letter is formatted corrected, making sure there is enough white space on the page. Balance is very important because you do not want everything to look clustered and you also do not want your letter starting at the very top of the page.
Homophones can be so simple, yet very confusing. Someone might not know whether to do “affect” or “effect” so they just guess. What I have learned this week was very helpful, because I myself have problems at times. People may also have hard times figuring out which punctuation mark to use or unsure where to even put it. The Writers Handbook provides great examples on when to use a colon, dash, etc. and I found it very helpful as well.
Some tips I would give to my readers would be to relax. Do not over-think your writing. Over-thinking will lead you to believe that you are doing too much or too little. If you have to, make an outline before writing. A lot of writers are successful making outlines. Writers are also successful free writing. Whatever you may feel comfortable doing, go for it. You do not want to step out of your comfort zone, and question whether your writing is good or not.
Overall, I’ve learned that it is a lot better and effective to be concise and get to the point quickly. If the information you are providing isn’t needed in the paragraph, leave it out. When people are reading, they want to know the important stuff. Although no writing is perfect, it can continue to be improved if practiced. Whether it improves in your next piece of writing, or the fifth one, it will improve if you put the time and effort. This class if very beneficial and I hope to continue learning more about writing for the future. By being a nursing major, I need to know and focus on this as much as possible because I will be doing a lot of writing as well as talking. Going into my career, I do not want to be afraid to speak to others because I am uneducated. I will make sure I am educated and continue to further my education by writing.
Proofreading and editing are two major components for writing effectively. I have learned that you can never write something perfect the first time; however, proofreading and editing can help you prevent future mistakes. Some important editing skills I have learned are comma placement, being concise and clear, and sentence fluency.
Comma placement may sound simple to you but if you use commas in the wrong spots, you can make your sentences confusing when read. By writing clear and concise, you make it easier for your reader to understand your purpose. When you add in extra information and go off topic, your reader might lose thought of the main idea. Sentence fluency helps your writing flow together and helps display your purpose to the reader. You never want to confuse your reader, the whole purpose of having a topic is sticking to it.
I have been noticing myself proofreading my writings before submitting them and I have been using my new editing skills to enhance my writing. I feel stronger as a writer and more understanding of all the rules. I hope to continue learning new editing skills and use them in my future writing assignments.
I have written memo’s, email’s, procedures etc for many years. It wasn’t until I took this class that I am learning the proper way. I have been out of school for 40 years I knew what to do, but not the proper way to do it. For proofreading, proofread your writing two or three times, do not proofread as you writer. This is one of my biggest mistakes, I want the document to be correct on the first or second attempt. I have learned to gather my thoughts, jot them down, put them in order and begin to write the first copy. Editing, well I must confess I would edit as I proofread correcting as I go. I must edit after I proofread these are two totally separate processes I must learn to take my time and be patient, something I struggle with.
I tend to be too wordy, I have noticed this as I receive back my assignments. I need to stay on task, be specific and direct.
So far I have learned a great deal in such a short time. I realize it is going to take practice and each time I will see an improvement. I am a Substance Abuse Counselor and in our progress notes our goal is to be specific, not wordy and write what you viewed with? So why don’t I do that with other writings?
I always need to edit and proofread everything I write. Nothing is perfect the first time. One of the major skills I learned this year to help me is to touch up on my grammar rules. I cannot edit if I don’t know the correct rules. Touching up on my grammar helped me tremendously in editing my papers. Once I read through the correct punctuation I can then re-read my writing and change the errors. Before I would have no idea why I was adding commas in places that probably didn’t belong. After this I will read my paper out loud and hear any other mistakes I could have made.
Another major error I run into is talking in an active voice. By reading out loud you can hear the awkwardness in the sentence. Keeping the real subject first followed by the verb helps keep your writer engaged. By switching from passive to active can confuse your reader.
Sometimes you just need a break from your writing. I know if I spend more than an hour writing I am going to make a mistake because I get irritated. Therefore, I usually work on other homework or walk around. This helps your blood flow and can keep you focused on your writing.
The last thing I like to do is having others read your writing. This I feel is the best way to edit your writing because sometimes other people can point out your error better than you. I like when Professor Young sends me back the exact sentences I mess up because I learn what I am doing wrong. A lot of times it is the same grammatical error in various spots. By having someone read it they can let you know what you are missing or what you can work on!
I am very glad I decided to take this professional writing class. I always felt like my writing wasn’t that good. By taking this class, I learned so much. One thing I always struggled with was editing. Either I’m too lazy to go back and edit my work or I just don’t know how to. With every assignment and forum, I have learned so much. I feel like now when I write a paper or letter, I know how to edit and what mistakes to look for.
One big thing I learned in this class is “less is more.” Whenever I write, I always tend to ramble on or talk about the same thing over and over again. This class taught me how to not do that but still be able to say what I want to say. Going along with this topic, I learned that each sentence should be 25 words or else. Any more than 25 words, the reader may not be able to comprehend what you are trying to say.
A cohesive paragraph develops one main topic and has a topic sentence and topic string. The topic sentence is just a broad, general view of the paragraph. The topic string is what follows. It is multiple sentences that expand on the topic sentences and give examples.
There are so many other tips and rules I have learned in this class. With each chapter I go through, I feel like my writing gets better. Since I struggled a lot with editing and proofreading, a lot of the chapters have helped me with this. I hope that with every assignment, I am applying what I have learned. I know for a fact that now, I definitely go back and proofread my work.
To help me proofread, I’ve learned to look for common areas where the most mistakes are made such as comma rules, the difference between cohesive and coherent paragraphs, and common misspelled words. These are the areas where I proofread aloud to make sure it sounds like I want it to sound, and then I will have someone else read it out loud to make sure it’s reading how I would like for it to read. I believe that I will benefit the most from what I’ve learned from our lessons in editing. I never realized that editing consisted of so much details that need attention. You have principles that needs to be incorporated for style and you have principles that needs to be considered for tone as well. I suggest that write down the editing checklist that’s in the Professional Writing text and go over it whenever you’re editing, that will help anyone out a lot.
As I apply what I’ve learned, I see an significant increase in my ability to avoid a lot common mistakes, and to even catch it after I’ve made them. I’m seeing my writings becoming more concise without added words and phrase. And most of all I’m seeing my writings looking and reading more professional, which I’m well pleased. But I know that this is still only the beginning, and the more I practice, the better I’ll get.
Proofreading as well as writing, can constantly be improved. I have learned and continue to learn new skills from every chapter. The “Active voice” and “less is more” are two things that I try to use in all my writings. Every since the chapter on emails and business letters, I have correctly written all emails to my professors. Brushing up on basic punctuation and grammar rules has also been a big help.
Since beginning this course, I have found my writing skill to be improving. I am very grateful that I did take this course and I have put what I have learned to use daily.
I am one who really dislike writing, especially long essays and papers. The main reason I use to dislike writing was because, I’ve always had problems with the comma rules and proofreading my papers. I would write a paper and “skim” over it. I wouldn’t read what I wrote word from word. Once I would turn an assignment in, I would get my paper back from a professor and dreaded seeing those big red markings. Now, I am a little more comfortable writing because I understand the common rules of writing. I find the proofreading and editing is one of the most important things I could do when writing. I find that once I proofread an edit my papers, I have less red marking on my papers from professors. I have learned that it is better to get to the point rather than to write long sentences. I’ve learned how to use the correct margin spacing and how to write emails, memos and business letters. I’ve learned the difference between direct and indirect messaging and how to/ when to use it in a letter. I really look forward to using everything I’ve learned in future classes and careers.
One area of my writing that I feel always needs improvement is my proofreading and editing skills. I have learned many helpful tips and information regarding both areas. Your proofreading and editing will always continue to improve and grow the more you practice. I definitely have seen that with myself first hand. I often have a hard time figuring out what to look for to improve the quality of my work and writing. A couple tips I can offer are: edit your work as you are writing it. Do not wait until you are finished with your writing before you start to edit. Also having a friend or peer help you edit and read your writing will help. Either having a friend or even yourself read your work out loud will help you in editing. Remove or re-write sentences that do not make sense. By editing and proofreading you are improving the quality of your work. All of the above tips are ones that I currently use with my writing. They are helping me to better my writing and also I feel more confident in my proofreading and editing skills.
When it comes to proofreading you are basically correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I learned that you should proofread a document after you have edited it. One major change I have made is setting a deadline for my writing. By doing this I allow myself enough time to write and also enough time to proofread and edit. This process allows me to have a better quality and a more clear, concise, and simple document.
After applying all the new skills I learned, I would say I have noticed a good difference in my writing and the way I think about writing. I know my writing is not perfect and there is always room for improvement, but I am very happy and confident with my writing today. I have a better understanding of word usage, editing, proofreading, and being simple. I use to write papers with so many extra filler words or sentences that were unnecessary. I now know what to look for in my writing to make it more clear and simple. I have always and have recently noticed that I still have problems with constructing run-on sentences. I am continuing to work on that area and have noticed when I have a peer proofread my work is when I notice the problem. Reading my work out loud also helps me in identifying my run-on sentences.
I feel my writing has not changed drastically, but I see a noticeable difference. I feel as though my writing was never bad, but just needed to be improved in a few small areas. I have learned plenty of helpful information and I now know what errors to look for in my writing. I know for sure that the skills I have learned in this course will continue to better my writing and I will continue to grow.