Speaker 1: So, what's the big deal about proofreading? Good writing is about a lot more than good grammar, just like basketball is about more than good dribbling. So, why this obsession over typos, misspellings, and grammar slips? Two reasons. First, judgment. Someone who doesn't know a dangling participle from a dangling dinner guest can spot a typo. That typo can then be used to negatively judge you, your writing, even your intelligence. Don't believe me? Here's an article from the Harvard Business Review entitled, I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Author, Kyle Weans, is CEO of iFixit. This CEO writes, People who mix up their its and its deserve to be passed over for a job, even if they are otherwise qualified for the position. I have a zero-tolerance approach to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid. Although there's no known relationship between intelligence and apostrophes, that fact obviously does not prevent others, whether employers or teachers, from judging you based on easy-to-spot surface errors. Now the second reason might surprise you. It's impossible to, oops, need to correct that typo, impossible to accurately proofread your own writing. This fact makes it likely you'll leave some type of error unless you take active measures. Why can't you proofread your own work accurately? You see, when writing, your mind creates a mental image of meaning that you then attempt to transfer to the page. The catch is, while your mental image may be perfect, what ends up on the page may not be. When someone else reads your writing, the process happens in reverse. The reader looks first at the words on the page and then tries to construct a mental image of meaning. What a difference. You, the writer, have lying on top of the page, like a piece of wax paper, your perfect mental image, which can prevent you from seeing clearly what's there. The reader, on the other hand, sees the cold reality of the page, black squiggles on a white background, without any filter. That's why the first proofreading tip is to ice it. Put the writing away until your mental image has faded and no longer obscures the reality of what's on the page. But the problem with ice it is time. It can take days or even weeks for that mental image to fade enough. Few people, least of all students, have that time. So we need tools we can apply immediately. One of the best is text-to-speech. These software programs let you hear what you wrote in someone else's voice. In other words, you get to process your writing as a listener, not its creator. There are literally hundreds of free text-to-speech programs out there that do the job. Our favorite is naturalreader.com. It's free, web-based, that means nothing to download, and offers drag-and-drop simplicity for your documents. Natural Reader can read 10 types of documents, has 18 English voices, and speed control in its free version. Many other text-to-speech programs can be found at review sites like techradar.com and elearning.com. But the bottom line is, listening to someone else read your document helps you know what is and isn't on the page. Another exciting technology for writers is the new AI-based spelling, style, and grammar checkers. Wait a minute, you say. Microsoft Word has offered its built-in auto-checker since 1995. And you're right. But Word's checker uses simple algorithms based on matching. Today's advanced spelling and style checkers use artificial intelligence to understand the context of what is written, to make predictions, and give insights about your writing. And there's no comparison between the simple spell checkers of old and today's advanced systems. Now, currently, there are two of these products, Grammarly and Ginger. Let's look at Grammarly, the most widely used and the most heavily marketed. Grammarly is integrated into more platforms than any other product. By default, it's always on, always checking, without you having to do anything. Grammarly's stated goal is to, quote, check everything you write on a computer. And it pretty much does. Grammarly not only checks Word process documents. It's also at work in every email client you have, whether Gmail or Outlook. It also checks your Blackboard discussion board post. It automatically checks Facebook posts, Instagram, Snapchat, Google Docs, Twitter, YouTube, and many other social media platforms. Now and in the future, because of its integration with GitHub, the leading software development platform. Speaking of software development, Grammarly even checks code. Grammarly has free browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. But Grammarly also teaches. For example, rather than merely accepting a correction, the user can choose to open Grammarly's card about the error. These cards contain a full explanation of the error, with incorrect examples being corrected. In other words, Grammarly can function as your individualized grammar and style handbook. And that is a great feature for students. The drawback is price. The premium versions of both are monthly $30, quarterly $20, annually $11.66 per month, which might be worth it while you're in school. What about the other spelling and grammar checkers out there? PaperRater, Reverso, NounPlus, AfterTheDeadline, Scribbins, GrammarCheck, VirtualWritingTutor, BibMe, SpellCheckPlus, and probably others. All require that you first go to their website and then transfer your document to the space provided. All of the results appear at the same time and can be confusing to navigate in a long document. But most importantly, each change must be made manually in the original document, unlike Grammarly, which is a simple click away to correct your error. Now this next tip is as down-to-earth as a pair of eyeballs. Those fancy algorithms in Grammarly and Ginger are simply attempts to replace the human mind. So this tip is, partner up. Get a second pair of eyeballs. Let's talk about your partner. Specifically, how to choose one and use one. Now, of course, it'd be great if this person had some training, but really that's not required. Simply have your partner read your work out loud, preferably using a hard copy. The partner should simply note anything, typo, suspected misspelling, unclear or confusing wording, anything that gets in the way of their reading and understanding of what you wrote. It's that simple. Of course, you'll want to return the favor by proving your partner's work. Doing so is not only good manners, it'll train you to be a better writer as you learn to look at writing more objectively. Now, this next set of tips all have to do with making physical changes to the text in order to distort and disrupt that mental image that prevents you from seeing the reality of what you wrote. First, when in the proofreading stage, print out your work as hard copy. Why? Hundreds of studies since the 1990s have compared reading from a screen versus reading hard copy print. The conclusions are, on average, reading from a screen is harder, about 27% harder, and uses more mental resources, making you tire more quickly. Second, reading from a screen is less efficient. We see and comprehend less. And finally, reading from a screen is less enjoyable, which can lead to avoidance. Simply put, the evidence is proofreading a hard copy of a text is easier and more accurate than on the screen. So, once you have that hard copy printed out, here are two more tips on what to do with it. First, highlight one line at a time with a reading ruler, or a folded piece of paper, or a real ruler. This technique forces you to see what's on the page rather than what's in your mind. The second thing you can do on the hard copy is to circle all the punctuation in red. These circles not only force you to check correct punctuation, circling the punctuation is another way of breaking up the text, defeating your mental image, and giving you a better chance of seeing what's actually there. But, what if printing out the document isn't an option? If proofing on the screen is your only option, there are three techniques you can use to give yourself an edge without having to use one. First, you can increase the size of the text on the screen. If your document is using 12-point type, enlarge it to 24. The enlarged letters will cause your mind to make a new mental map of the document. The same goes for changing the font. When you change the font, you'll produce new glyphs. Each letter is called a glyph and is treated by your mind as an image. So, having to interpret new enlarged glyphs further erodes the original mental image, giving you a better chance of spotting typos, misspellings, and other unintentional mistakes. Third, you can change the column layout of the document. In Word, click on Layout, then Columns. Choose to divide up your document into two or three columns. Make sure your text is left-aligned only. Don't use full left-right justification. The last tips are, when proofing, it's important to read your work slowly and out loud. Because doing so helps defeat mental prediction and mental mapping as you focus on each individual word. As a matter of fact, trained proofreaders do even more. Trained proofreaders read in syllables, not words. So, instead of saying the word proofing, a trained proofreader would say proof-ing. Instead of syllable, a trained proofreader would say out loud syl-la-ble to make sure all the L's are there. Because proofreading comes last in the writing process, at the deadline when it's time to turn it in, we tend to give our documents a final quick read, maybe a spell check. As you've seen in this presentation, accurate proofreading requires patience and a clear process. Your writing deserves both. Your writing is always a direct reflection of you. Don't be afraid to make it the best you can be.