PROOFREADING
Mini-lesson
(Step 4 of WHAT GOOD
WRITERS DO . . . )
Warm up –
In 4 sentences (or more),
explain how YOU proofread
your papers and how much
time (approximately) that
you spend proofreading.
HUH? Read and correct:
Potluck supper: prayer and
medication to follow
• Kids re-read their writing as they would
read anything else – and think that they
have proofread.
Reading is done quickly;
proofreading is done s-l-o-w-l-y.
When we read, we read for comprehension.
Our eye movements are too rapid, too rapid
to see the details within words – failing to see
some words at all.
Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in
the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can
sitll raed it wouthit pobelrms. Tihs is buseace the huamn
mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as
a wlohe.
We see what we want to see; the
brain [self] corrects for
omissions and oversights.
Professional editors proofread as many as ten
times. Publishing houses hire teams of
readers to work in pairs, out loud.
~ Virginia Tech Writing Center
Proofreading Strategies
1. Read your paper backwards (bottom to top)
2. Have a PARTNER read your paper OUTLOUD to
YOU.
3. As you read your paper POINT to EACH word.
4. WAIT hours or days before you reread your paper.
• Your job as a proofreader is to do
ANYTHING that slows your eye down.
• WHY??
Our job as teachers is NOT to proofread &
edit student papers, but to create
competent self-editors who don’t need us.