024 - Chapter 24 - Praxis 5039 (Chapter Test)

Vincent is reading over the paper that he has written. He realizes that he went off on a bit of a tangent, and one of his main points does not line up with his thesis statement. This was discovered while Vincent was _____.

Editing for content; Explanation Vincent was editing for content which involves making sure your writing is answering the original question asked of you and making sure your main points are in line with your thesis statement.

If you discover that one of your body paragraphs has gone off track and doesn't support your thesis, you should _____.

delete the paragraph; Explanation If you find a paragraph that has gone off track, consider whether it's so off point that you should delete it altogether.

Outlining the major points from your essay after writing the essay can help you _____.

spot ideas that are out of place; Explanation Doing a post-outline can help you see when you've looped back and touched on points that you've already covered in other places. In the editing process, you can move those stray points back up to where they belong.

Which of the following is NOT included in the general rules of self-editing?

To be as fresh as possible, edit your paper immediately after you finish writing it. Explanation It is NOT advisable to edit your paper immediately after finishing writing it. In fact, it's important to spend a couple of minutes away from your piece before editing. The brain is a powerful muscle that can sometimes see what we intended to write instead of what is actually on the paper.

Maggie has written an essay that is going to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. She struggles with proofreading her own material because her mind tends to wander when she reads her essays aloud to herself. What is another type of proofreading strategy that Maggie could use?

Read her essay backwards. Explanation Instead of reading her essay aloud, Maggie could try reading from the bottom up, starting with the last sentence of the last paragraph and working her way backward. This way, Maggie takes away the context of the sentences and has to look at each individually.

Which of the following is NOT a suggested proofreading strategy?

Reading only the new paragraphs you have written while revising. [NOT A SUGGESTED PROOFREADING STRATEGY] Explanation If you've made any significant revisions - say you read your paper aloud and didn't like a particular section so you changed it - don't forget to proof these changes too. Errors can still crop up in a section you have rewritten if you do not proofread it.

Why is it important to proofread your essay?

To ensure that you do not overlook silly mistakes that can affect your credibility. Explanation An essay is an argument that you are building for your reader, ultimately trying to persuade him or her of your point of view. By skipping the proofreading step, you risk letting silly mistakes slip through. Proofreading allows you to maintain credibility.

The last step in the editing process is known as _____, which involves carefully reading over a document for the purpose of finding any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting that need to be corrected.

Proofreading; Explanation When proofreading, you check for any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting that you might not have caught while working on your essay. This final step helps lower the risk of letting errors into your work that can affect your credibility.

When you try to improve your thesis statement, you should _____.

make it more specific, based on the major points you've made in your paper; Explanation To improve your thesis statement, re-examine the essay question and think about the major points that you've made throughout the body paragraphs of your essay. Strengthen a so-so thesis statement by tying it very specifically to what you've written about.

Sarah has just completed writing a paper. She is now spending time making sure that her subjects and verbs always agree, that she is using active voice instead of passive voice, and that she has good variety in her sentence structure. This is an example of which of the following?

Editing for mechanics; Explanation This is an example of editing for mechanics which involves looking at spelling, as well as editing for comma errors, proper tense (using active versus passive voice), correct punctuation and the other rules of the English language, including subject-verb agreement and sentence variety.

Which of the following sentences has been proofread to be completely free of grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and typos?

Ever since the man-eating shark attack, wannabe swimmers have been prohibited from frolicking in the local lake. Explanation The differences between these sentences are subtle. The correct sentence has the correct spelling of words ('shark' and 'local'), the correct use of a hyphen ('man-eating'), and no typos ('the' is not missing from the sentence). It has been proofread to be completely free of grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and typos.

As you work on editing and improving the content of an essay that you've written, which of the following considerations is NOT important?

Your supporting details are numbered. Explanation All of the following are important considerations to follow when editing the content of an essay: 1.) Your purpose is clear 2.) Your thesis statement is effective and clear 3.) Your main ideas are on point with your thesis 4.)There are sufficient details to support your major points 5.) Your points are organized well.

Editing for content _____, while editing for mechanics _____.

ensures you met the objectives for the assignment; ensures you polish your writing by addressing fine details; Explanation Editing for content is ensuring that you are following the very heart and directions (objectives) of the writing assignment given. Editing for mechanics includes polishing your writing and addressing the fine details, like spelling and grammar.

Which of the following is NOT an example of a heterograph?

fine, find; Explanation Heterographs are words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings, such as two, too and to. The words 'fine' and 'find' are NOT heterographs because they are not pronounced the same.

If you find that you've written more of a descriptive essay when you meant to write a persuasive essay, you should _____.

go back and add persuasive statements following each instance of evidence in your essay; Explanation Identify each instance in which you've provided a fact or example in support of your position. Be sure that you've followed up each of those instances with a few persuasive statements arguing that those facts and examples support your main argument or prove your point correct.