It looks as if everyone who is going to get caught up has, so it's time to move on to the final stages of the writing process--proofreading. You should be fairly well integrated with your group now. One of the main lessons of the class is when it is appropriate to use others as part of your writing process. Proofreading and editing is such a time, and your group is there to help.
As I said in my previous blog post on proofreading, the main trick to seeing errors is getting enough "distance" from the text to not read through the errors you produce. One of the easiest ways to get such distance is to get other sets of eyeballs looking at your work.
In this assignment you will learn and practice several new proofreading/editing techniques, and you should come out of it even more comfortable working with your group and collaborating through google docs.
1. You have used google documents to get help from your group with the revision of your King rhetorical analysis. The last stage of the process in producing a polished document that is ready to publish or turn in is proofreading. For this assignment, you need to make sure your group has your latest revision, and they are added in the google document as collaborators.
2. Go back into the blog and re-read my post entitled, "Notes on Proofreading." You can find this post by looking at the top of this page, where you will find a search box. Enter "Proofreading" in the search box, and hit the button, "Search Blog." This process should call up all the posts where I mention the word, "Proofreading." Scan down and look for the one called, "Notes on Proofreading." (By the way, this method is how you can search the class blof for specific keywords.)
My post on proofreding should introduce you to a few new proofreading techniques. If you already have tried them all, research proofreading and find a technique you haven't tried and which isn't listed. If you find one and share it via the email list for the class, you'll receive extra credit for class participation!
My "Notes on Proofreading" should also teach you the place of proofreading in the writing process, that is, the last step prior to turning in your writing for publication. This is exactly where you are with your King essay. The reason we wait so late to proofread is because we assume you'll be making changes to your writing as you revise, like you have on your King analysis based on the feedback you've received from your group and on your own reading of their work.
Here is the important point: If you proofread and polish the surface features of writing you then revise, you've wasted effort; so, it makes sense to proofread and edit almost last.
3. Read each of the revised drafts produced by your group members. As you do, employ a technique from my "Notes on Proofreading" which is new to you. This means you'll try out one new method of proofreading per member of your group. Not every method works for every editor, but you have to try them out to figure out which methods work well for you.
4. As you read, look for grammar, spelling, or usage which you think might be improved. As you find them, you are to do two things:
A) fix the first five mistakes you find in each draft; and,
B) go down to the bottom of the revised draft and make a note to the author of the errors you fixed.
Step B is designed to leave the author of the revised draft on which you are working additional information for their "Error List." If you remember, authors use such Error Lists to figure out which surface level feature of writing, that is, which grammar, usage, or spelling mistake, they will next learn to recognize and fix in their own writing. If you get used to working on one error from your list at a time, you soon find yourself able to recognize and fix most of the common errors to which you are prone. Over time, you will find yourself less and less reliant on others--like your group or me--to read and fix your work for you.
4A. Some notes on how to handle the Error List with multiple proofreaders:
i) If you haven't already done it. Pick a color of text in which to work. This is *your* color of text, and no one else can have it. Talk to your group members before each of you begins editing, and decide on which color each member will use.
You produce text in a specific color by selecting the text you want to change, and then using the "A" tab next to the underline, italics, and bold tab on the google docs editing page. Pick a color you like, as I am going to ask you to use it for the rest of the semester. My own is red, the ucky color traditionally used by editors and English teachers; so, pick another color besides red. By having your own color of text in which to edit, I'll be able to recognize your work and so with the authors with whom you work. (Side note: The reason English teachers have bled red on your papers in the past is that early editors assumed it was an easy color to see, it contrasted with most early inks, which were black or brown, and there is a traditional association in English society with danger.]
ii) Make the changes to the draft in which you are working in your color of text, and, as you list the errors you fix, write your contribution to the Error List in your color. Being able to go into the document and see the surface level errors you are catching will let me better grade your work, that is, I can see what you have done; but, more importantly, it may provide me with a clue as to what I should suggest you work on in terms of your own writing, and it lets the author recognize the work of each editor.
iii) Make sure to include a section of the revised draft just after the error list you produce, in which you leave me and your team member a note saying something like:
"Color Code:
1) This is Steve Brandon, and I'm editing in red. In this document I used the proofreading technique of reading out loud. It felt a little weird, but I did see errors I normally would have missed."
2) ...."
iv) Finally, if you find yourself fixing the same kind of error someone else has fixed, place a star beside this error in your own color. Seeing one or more stars will tell the author, "This error occurred more than once; it's one I produce regularly in my writing; so, it's one I might consider learning how to recognize and fix on my own."
v) Remember, when you proofread, you aren't trying to offer suggestions about how to change anything but the surface level polish of the piece. You are looking at grammar, usage, and spelling--nothing else.
vi) Also remember, no one expects you to be an expert on grammar, usage, and spelling. You are a student writer offering another author in your group an opinion and some advice on how to fix problems you see in their writing. Adults aren't required to follow the advice they receive from others, and it's not uncommon to receive contradictory advice on a piece of writing. You work with the advice editors give you in the same way you work with any advice, that is, you listen, you weigh it, and you follow it if it makes sense; otherwise, you don't follow it.
vii) Regardless, each time you practice reading to proofread, you will learn to recognize more-and-more which could be fixed. This is one reason English teachers make such picky readers, we've read thousands of texts, and each time we've gotten better at spotting possible problem spots. Just as with your group, however, when an English teacher marks something to fix, they offer you their opinion. Remember, anyone can make mistakes. You are the author; you weigh an English teacher's opinion along with everyone else who reads and helps you improve your work.
By the way, "usage"--a term you should learn--refers to using a word like "their" when you meant "there" or "they're" or to using a weak, vague verb instead of a strong, precise one. In any event, the assumption is that by the time the author has asked for someone else to edit their work, the deep level work, like organization, development, etc. has already been done.
Finally, I've left a few errors in this post for you to find and fix. Send me an email with the errors you find in this post, and I'll offer a point of extra credit. You only need to list three errors to qualify for the extra credit.
As always, write with questions.
As I said in my previous blog post on proofreading, the main trick to seeing errors is getting enough "distance" from the text to not read through the errors you produce. One of the easiest ways to get such distance is to get other sets of eyeballs looking at your work.
In this assignment you will learn and practice several new proofreading/editing techniques, and you should come out of it even more comfortable working with your group and collaborating through google docs.
1. You have used google documents to get help from your group with the revision of your King rhetorical analysis. The last stage of the process in producing a polished document that is ready to publish or turn in is proofreading. For this assignment, you need to make sure your group has your latest revision, and they are added in the google document as collaborators.
2. Go back into the blog and re-read my post entitled, "Notes on Proofreading." You can find this post by looking at the top of this page, where you will find a search box. Enter "Proofreading" in the search box, and hit the button, "Search Blog." This process should call up all the posts where I mention the word, "Proofreading." Scan down and look for the one called, "Notes on Proofreading." (By the way, this method is how you can search the class blof for specific keywords.)
My post on proofreding should introduce you to a few new proofreading techniques. If you already have tried them all, research proofreading and find a technique you haven't tried and which isn't listed. If you find one and share it via the email list for the class, you'll receive extra credit for class participation!
My "Notes on Proofreading" should also teach you the place of proofreading in the writing process, that is, the last step prior to turning in your writing for publication. This is exactly where you are with your King essay. The reason we wait so late to proofread is because we assume you'll be making changes to your writing as you revise, like you have on your King analysis based on the feedback you've received from your group and on your own reading of their work.
Here is the important point: If you proofread and polish the surface features of writing you then revise, you've wasted effort; so, it makes sense to proofread and edit almost last.
3. Read each of the revised drafts produced by your group members. As you do, employ a technique from my "Notes on Proofreading" which is new to you. This means you'll try out one new method of proofreading per member of your group. Not every method works for every editor, but you have to try them out to figure out which methods work well for you.
4. As you read, look for grammar, spelling, or usage which you think might be improved. As you find them, you are to do two things:
A) fix the first five mistakes you find in each draft; and,
B) go down to the bottom of the revised draft and make a note to the author of the errors you fixed.
Step B is designed to leave the author of the revised draft on which you are working additional information for their "Error List." If you remember, authors use such Error Lists to figure out which surface level feature of writing, that is, which grammar, usage, or spelling mistake, they will next learn to recognize and fix in their own writing. If you get used to working on one error from your list at a time, you soon find yourself able to recognize and fix most of the common errors to which you are prone. Over time, you will find yourself less and less reliant on others--like your group or me--to read and fix your work for you.
4A. Some notes on how to handle the Error List with multiple proofreaders:
i) If you haven't already done it. Pick a color of text in which to work. This is *your* color of text, and no one else can have it. Talk to your group members before each of you begins editing, and decide on which color each member will use.
You produce text in a specific color by selecting the text you want to change, and then using the "A" tab next to the underline, italics, and bold tab on the google docs editing page. Pick a color you like, as I am going to ask you to use it for the rest of the semester. My own is red, the ucky color traditionally used by editors and English teachers; so, pick another color besides red. By having your own color of text in which to edit, I'll be able to recognize your work and so with the authors with whom you work. (Side note: The reason English teachers have bled red on your papers in the past is that early editors assumed it was an easy color to see, it contrasted with most early inks, which were black or brown, and there is a traditional association in English society with danger.]
ii) Make the changes to the draft in which you are working in your color of text, and, as you list the errors you fix, write your contribution to the Error List in your color. Being able to go into the document and see the surface level errors you are catching will let me better grade your work, that is, I can see what you have done; but, more importantly, it may provide me with a clue as to what I should suggest you work on in terms of your own writing, and it lets the author recognize the work of each editor.
iii) Make sure to include a section of the revised draft just after the error list you produce, in which you leave me and your team member a note saying something like:
"Color Code:
1) This is Steve Brandon, and I'm editing in red. In this document I used the proofreading technique of reading out loud. It felt a little weird, but I did see errors I normally would have missed."
2) ...."
iv) Finally, if you find yourself fixing the same kind of error someone else has fixed, place a star beside this error in your own color. Seeing one or more stars will tell the author, "This error occurred more than once; it's one I produce regularly in my writing; so, it's one I might consider learning how to recognize and fix on my own."
v) Remember, when you proofread, you aren't trying to offer suggestions about how to change anything but the surface level polish of the piece. You are looking at grammar, usage, and spelling--nothing else.
vi) Also remember, no one expects you to be an expert on grammar, usage, and spelling. You are a student writer offering another author in your group an opinion and some advice on how to fix problems you see in their writing. Adults aren't required to follow the advice they receive from others, and it's not uncommon to receive contradictory advice on a piece of writing. You work with the advice editors give you in the same way you work with any advice, that is, you listen, you weigh it, and you follow it if it makes sense; otherwise, you don't follow it.
vii) Regardless, each time you practice reading to proofread, you will learn to recognize more-and-more which could be fixed. This is one reason English teachers make such picky readers, we've read thousands of texts, and each time we've gotten better at spotting possible problem spots. Just as with your group, however, when an English teacher marks something to fix, they offer you their opinion. Remember, anyone can make mistakes. You are the author; you weigh an English teacher's opinion along with everyone else who reads and helps you improve your work.
By the way, "usage"--a term you should learn--refers to using a word like "their" when you meant "there" or "they're" or to using a weak, vague verb instead of a strong, precise one. In any event, the assumption is that by the time the author has asked for someone else to edit their work, the deep level work, like organization, development, etc. has already been done.
Finally, I've left a few errors in this post for you to find and fix. Send me an email with the errors you find in this post, and I'll offer a point of extra credit. You only need to list three errors to qualify for the extra credit.
As always, write with questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment