Proofreading

As of this printing, Evergreen does not employ anyone to proofread your Final Academic Statement after you submit it. Any mistakes or inconsistencies that show up in your Final Academic Statement when you submit it will be included in your transcript. That makes each student responsible for submitting final drafts that are free from errors.

Mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, spacing, grammar, and spelling are sometimes the first thing a reader notices, even before they understand the content of what someone is saying. This puts a lot of pressure on these elements of the writing. To add to the pressure, innocent mistakes can make a reader feel like a writer didn’t spend enough time reviewing their work. Sometimes a writer might want to draw attention to their craft by making an intentional choice to break standard conventional grammar. Typos, however, don’t have anything to do with the content or message. The spirit of proofreading is really to ensure that the writer gets their reader’s full attention for their ideas and craft.

Despite its importance, proofreading doesn’t come easily; it is notoriously difficult to catch your own mistakes on the proofreading level. Every writer makes proofreading errors in their drafts. This is why professional writers (and faculty) have editors!

What we suggest:

Recruit multiple friends, family members, and faculty. Recruit people to help you proofread your final draft just for errors. If you’re in a time crunch or you’re simply satisfied with your draft, make sure to let your reader know that you don’t intend on making big changes. Also let your reader know when you are only seeking feedback on grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Help your reader accomplish this task at a time when they are free from distractions. For more about choosing readers to support you, see evergreen.edu/writingcenter/readers-your-final-academic-statement.

While the Writing Center doesn’t do proofreading for students, you can always come in and proofread with a tutor!

Be your own proofreader. Proofreading your own work is particularly difficult. But, if you are proofreading your own work, make sure to:

• Take it slowly and eliminate distractions. • Read each word out loud and with your finger following along so that you carefully review each word, punctuation mark, and space as they appear on the page. • Have a style guide and/or dictionary on hand. • Follow your hunches—if you feel uncertain about one of your choices, double check it. Research or reach out. • Consider reading the sentences out of order (e.g. backwards from the last sentence to the first). This can help you stay alert to the words that are actually on the page. • Proofread more than once, but take a break between readings.