Reflective Writing on Grammatical Errors Using Writer’s Help:
My Common Errors Journal Assignment
Objectives
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Track patterns of errors in your own writing
Become an independent user of reference material about writing
Reflect on your improvement
Prompt
Keep a journal in which you record the errors—grammar, punctuation, style—noted by peer reviews and
by me (your instructor) in your writing. In your journal, include the following:
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The text that shows your error and correction
How you discovered the error
Which Writer’s Help page helped you correct it (See the tips below for using Writer’s Help.)
The correction
How you plan to avoid it in the future
Example My Common Errors Journal entry
9/15/2011
Error: Bone also report that Americans spend only thirty minutes cooking dinner, compared with 2-1/2
hours in the 1960s.
My peer reviewer Sally pointed out that this sentence didn’t sound right to her, and she thought the
problem was the verb. So, I went to Writer’s Help and searched for verbs. The first result was the Quick
Help document for subject-verb agreement
(http://writershelp.bedfordstmartins.com/ebooks/helphandbook.php?page=5_1_1&fromLinkToPage=y
es). The first example shows how the verb must match the subject even if words come between them,
so I knew I needed “reports” (singular) rather than “report” (plural) to match Bone.
Correction: Bone also reports that Americans spend only thirty minutes cooking dinner, compared with
2-1/2 hours in the 1960s.
To avoid this error in the future, I will check the subject and verb of each sentence to make sure they
agree. I need to remember that most singular verbs end in –s.
Tips for Using Writer’s Help in the My Common Errors Assignment
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Create a tag set of your Common Errors so that you can easily locate the information again.
NOTE: If you or your instructor would like for all class members to see the tag set in which you
are tracking your common errors, please select “share with class.” Your tag set titled “My
Common Errors: My Name” (as well as any peers who have done the same) will appear in the
Your Class’s Tags section of the Your Class button in the right panel.
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To add a link to your journal as shown in the example above, use share-a-link.