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STEPS TO BETTER WRITING 44: PROOFREADING THE ESSAY
Your essay is not finished until you have proofread it carefully, corrected your errors, and reprinted it. Proof reading an essay is exactly like proofreading a paragraph, but, for the sake of clarity, let's review the process.
Read the entire essay aloud in order to hear what it sounds like.
Listen for:
> gaps in your thought
>ideas that re not explained adequately
>careless omission of words
>obvious mistakes in punctuation and grammar
You might also ask someone else to listen you or to read the essay as well, looking for mistakes that you have missed and making suggestions for improvements.
Then read the paper through again several times - looking closely for a different type of error with each reading.
Here are the most important types to watch out for:
| POOR ORGANIZATION | Does your paper have a precise central idea (thesis) stated in your introduction? Are the supporting points of this thesis given in logical order? Does your paragraph indicate these logical divisions? |
| UNRELATED SPECIFICS | Do all the main points relate directly to the thesis: do all specifics in each paragraph help to prove or explain the topic sentence |
| LACK OF ORDER | Are the main points arranged in an appropriate, logical pattern? Are the specifics within each paragraph arranged in a logical order? |
| SIGNAL WORDS AND CONNECTORS | Have you provided the proper signal words and linking devices to connect paragraphs, as well as to connect the specifics within each paragraph? |
| ERRORS IN GRAMMAR | Are all of your sentences complete? Have you improperly joined two sentences? Do subjects and verbs agree? Do pronouns and their antecedents agree? Are pronouns in the proper case? |
| PUNCTUATION ERRORS | Have you used commas where needed to set off or separate items? Have you avoided using unnecessary commas: Have you used apostrophes correctly? Have you been careful to use colons and semicolons properly? Have you avoided needless use of dashes? |
| SPELLING MISTAKES | Have you checked the dictionary (spell check) for the exact spelling of any words you are not absolutely sure of? |
| NEATNESS | Have you used the rules for typing a paper provided by your school? |
EXERCISE A Proofread the following essay, which contains many of the errors outlined above. You should read the essay through once for each type of error. Correct the errors in the essay itself by crossing them out and writing the correct form above.
Cars I Would Not Want To Own
There are over a quarter of a million automobiles sold in the United States each year. Many types are available; Foreign cars and American cars, convertibles and sedans, big cars and little cars. this variety is the result of the wide range of tastes of the driving population. There is three kinds of cars which doesn't suit my taste at all, and which I would never own. One type is impractical, another is little and ugly, and a third is poorly made.
An example of an unpractical car is the Excalibur SS, perhaps you have never seen one of these cars. It bears a strong resemblance to the Dusenberg of many years ago or to an old MG, early 1951 or 1952. One of the things I don't like about it are that it only comes in a convertable model That's fine in the summer or on a sunny day, but when it rains or when winter comes, its rather impractical Winter is perhaps the roughest though. Mainly because the car is not even equipped with a heater. And the softtop has plastic side window and a plastic rear window that leaks and yellows in the sun and becomes briddle with age. This car is fitted with a 327 cubic inch engine from the Corvette Stingray. The car does not weigh more than 2000 pounds, compared to the Corvette which weights around 4000 pounds. With over 350 horsepower and so litle weight, the Excalibur is very dangerous, and you can't come near controlling it on accelleration around curves or on a panic stop. Combining these shortcommings with a $35,000 price tag, you have a very impractical car.
A car that I wouldn't want is one of those ugly little foreign "bugs" you see everywhere. The Volkswagen is a good example, this simply isn't my idea of a car with good looks. In addition, its to small for safety. If you were hit in the side by a larger car or by a truck, you'd be finished. You also can't ride for great distances in comfort, because the engine is to noisy and the interior is cramped. Another shortcoMming is that Volkswagen's are to common. I don't want a car that every mothers son has, and if you look around any large parking lot in this town, you are bound to see at least 10 Wolkwagen's. Besides being so common, this car is to underpowered for freeway driving. Its almost impossible to pass a car on the expressway at sixty miles per hour, if there is a stiff crosswind blowing, you would think you were on a roller coaster. This is both unpleasant and unsafe.
The third type of car that I wouldn't like to own is one that is cheaply made. Ford Mustang's fall into this class - my family owned one once, and before we got rid of it the muffler fell off at least five times. By the time we sold it six months later, there was rattles in every comer. Meanwhile, the paint had started peeling off; to say nothing of the first layer of chrome on the bumpers. To top it off; whenever the driver made a hard left turn, the door on the passenger's side would fly open. My uncle owns a Cougar, and it doesn't have these problems.
Although I consider myself to be a fairly reasonable person, who can understand that different people like different kinds of cars. I simply cannot understand why anybody would buy the cars I've described here. If their impractical, I don't want them. If their "buggy", forget it! And if their cheap, please leave it on the display floor; because I'm not interested.
EXERCISE B Proofread the essay you wrote in Step 39, reading it through once for each type of error listed in this lesson. Then recopy it, using the best introduction and conclusion you wrote, and turn it in.
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