Top 3 Editing Tricks to Improve Homeschool Writing Assignments
Spot the Typos: Simple Editing Hacks to Perfect Your Writing
“This would have been 100% if you’d proofread it one more time.” I can’t count how many times I have left this comment on student writing assignments.
Students often turn in well-constructed, beautifully written papers, but minor spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes can stand between them and a perfect grade. These errors can be easy to catch with just one more round of editing. I’ve done it, too. So many times in my life as a professional author, I have hit that publish button thinking, “I’ve read this through enough times; I’m sure I caught everything,” only to find my work riddled with embarrassing typos.
Thankfully, I have picked up a few tricks over the years. Today, I will share three simple editing hacks I have implemented in my writing to help me catch more of those pesky mess-ups. While no editorial method is foolproof, implementing these strategies will help filter out more errors and—for students—it could mean the difference between a 92% and a 100%.
Zoom In
This is a trick I discovered early on in my writing career. Catching typos and other errors becomes easier if I zoom the screen in while editing. For example, if I normally look at the screen at 100% magnification, I zoom into 130 or even 150% for editing. This isn’t because of bad eyesight; it’s because if your brain is accustomed to looking at text at a specific size, changing that size will trigger your brain to pay closer attention to the text. It essentially tells your brain, “This is something out of the ordinary; pay attention.” And, of course, the bigger text makes it likelier that a typo will stand out.
Read Out Loud
Sometimes, the problem with our writing isn’t the spelling but the syntax. Syntax refers to the rules governing how words are combined to form phrases and clauses, dictating a sentence’s structure and the order in which words are placed to convey meaning. It has to do with sentence structure and whether the words “make sense.”
A classic example of a sentence with bad syntax is, “Walking down the street, the sudden rain drenched me.” As written, the subject of this sentence is “the sudden rain.” Therefore, the modifier “walking down the street” implies that the rain itself is walking down the street, which would be nonsensical. It should be written, “As I walked down the street, the sudden rain drenched me.”
Sometimes, it takes reading these types of sentences out loud to notice the poor syntax. You may not catch the error when reading silently, but verbalizing the sentence makes it easier to hear how awkward it sounds. This is why I always encourage students to give their writing assignments at least one read-through aloud.
Edit Backwards
Editing backward is a method I only recently discovered, and it has worked wonders for my editing. This is a trick professional editors have used for years with great success. Similarly, it can also benefit student writing. Essentially, you start at the end of the document, proofreading the final paragraph first and then working your way backward to the beginning.
Why does this help? When we have read something repeatedly, our brain gets used to the sequence. It can begin to “fill in the gaps” in the text. This makes it likelier that we will gloss over mistakes. Reading backward, however, breaks up the sequence your brain is accustomed to. Therefore, your brain will pay closer attention to the text because the anticipated flow of ideas has been thrown off.
Conclusion
Ultimately, turning in a finely crafted piece of writing free of errors takes time and commitment. If you are a young person serious about writing, taking the extra time to implement these simple strategies in your editing could make a massive difference in the quality of your written work.
If you’re looking for more ways to refine your writing skills or help your student become a confident and capable writer, consider Homeschool Connections’ Aquinas Writing Advantage program. This comprehensive program offers online writing classes for grades 3 to 12, taught by professional authors and teachers passionate about helping homeschoolers succeed.
Do you have any other methods or strategies you use when editing writing? Let us know in the Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group.
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