Process Relation to Proofreading Reflection Paper

Proofreading and ensuring correct grammar and punctuation is an important final step before completing any scholarly writing assignment. Be sure to allot the necessary time for this step when planning the timeline for this and future assignments.

ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED SOLUTION PAPERS

This week’s Learning Resources will help you better understand the proofreading tools available to you so that you can submit a strong final draft. For this Discussion, you will reflect on your own writing in relation to final proofreading. Based on what you have learned from the week’s Resources, you will share your thoughts and experiences on proofreading. You may also choose to reflect on any grammar- or punctuation-related strategies you have used in the past or are currently using.

To prepare:

Review the Learning Resources on proofreading.
Review the Learning Resources on grammar and punctuation.
Reflect on your writing process in relation to proofreading. You may even choose to consider how you approached this specific assignment in relation to proofreading, grammar, and/or punctuation.

BY DAY 3

Post a 1- to 2-paragraph reflection on your use of proofreading. (Note: You may choose to reflect specifically on how you will apply concepts of proofreading in this week’s Assignment.) In addition, identify any grammar-related issues in your writing and ways you have addressed them in this course.

https://youtu.be/oLecDbLwsEM?list=PLM7NbPzilFBeK1ooye_muvulYI7O1I2O4

https://youtu.be/oLecDbLwsEM?list=PLM7NbPzilFBcJia12fS51j1w0hSS7b3cY

Top 5 Paragraph-Level Mistakes in Student Writing

Tuesday, October 14, 2014 Paragraphs 7 comments

Often, Walden students ask for our feedback on APA style and grammar. However, in my experience, these issues are usually not the most important ones that need addressing in a student’s submitted piece of writing. Rather than sentence-level issues, global-level issues—such as those on the paragraph level—are going to make or break your paper. By “paragraph level,” I mean things that are not immediately evident in a single sentence but rather in the paragraph as a whole: organization, flow of ideas, use of logic and evidence, diversity of research, and absence of bias.

Here are five of the most frequent paragraph-level issues I address as a writing instructor in paper reviews:

Paragraphs lacking the student’s own analysis.

Remember that a paragraph should normally do more than merely summarize what other scholars have said; instead, it should feature your own scholarly analysis and arguments. To make this happen, APA and Walden recommend that each paragraph begin with a main idea (expressed in a topic sentence), followed by supporting evidence, your own analysis of that evidence, and end with a lead-out sentence that concludes the paragraph’s argument. At the Writing Center, we often call this paragraph structure the “MEAL” plan, which stands for the four components in bold above. For more information, check out our four-part blog series on using the MEAL plan for paragraph organization and development.

Paragraphs that cite only one source.

Unless your course instructor indicates otherwise, each paragraph should typically contain a minimum of two cited sources, and preferably three to five. If your paragraph only has one cited source, you are merely summarizing a source rather than conducting scholarly analysis, and failing to show diversity of research.

Paragraphs that start with another researcher’s ideas, rather than the student’s.

When beginning a new paragraph, we recommend starting with a topic sentence, which states the main idea of your paragraph with your own ideas and in your own words (meaning that you should not need to include a citation). Ideally, you want your readers to be able to summarize your paper simply by reading the first sentence of each paragraph. For more information, see the Writing Center’s webpage on writing topic sentences.

Paragraphs that are too packed or crowded.

In episode 3 of the Walden Writing Center’s WriteCast podcast, we call these paragraphs the “whole paper” paragraphs. Trying to cram too many ideas into a single paragraph will not only confuse your readers, but also potentially cause your writing to become off-track and unfocused. If you find yourself addressing more than one main idea or argument, either cut out the extra material or use it in a new paragraph.

Paragraphs that fail to directly focus on a single idea or argument.

Make sure that whatever you write in the paragraph directly supports the paragraph’s topic sentence (see #3 above), which will help prevent the “whole paper” paragraph issue. Often, this requires zooming out to a bird’s-eye view and explaining what a quotation or a particular point means and how it relates to your topic.

For more on writing strong paragraphs and paragraph mistakes to avoid, consider listening to episode 3 of our WriteCast podcast. Or, view our archived “WritingEffective Academic Paragraphs” webinar.