What role does mechanical correctness play?
Proofreading and editing differ from revision or construction of meaning, and are more appropriately addressed after the clarity and content of a piece of writing has been developed. That is, slips in punctuation, spelling, or agreement of nouns and verbs may not even be noticed by readers engaged in an essay written with meaningful, challenging content and purposeful structure. On the other hand, numerous errors can interfere with reading, and these problems somehow appear more numerous, even maddening, when we read carelessly organized papers. Tell students that the reason to avoid mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar is that it gets in the way of understanding their message. How can you show this? Usually, students are quick to spot others’ mistakes, so display a paragraph with numerous non-standard forms and ask students for their comments. They should be able to reason back from this to the importance of editing their own written work in its final draft.
