| Students have another resource for help polishing | | | | foolproof solution. That's because there are two types |
| those all-important essays: online editorial services like | | | | of spelling errors: non-word errors, which create a |
| "It's important to have someone check your work | | | | string of letters that do not make up a real word, and |
| before you hand it in," says Chandra Clarke, a director | | | | word errors, in which the misspelling results in a real |
| of "Especially if you've been working on it in the wee | | | | word that is incorrect in the context of the sentence. |
| hours of the morning, as students often do." | | | | Humans catch only 75 percent of word errors, |
| A variety of research supports the need for an | | | | according to Raymond Panko, professor of |
| objective set of eyes to critique writing and fix errors. | | | | information technology management at the University |
| A study by Meredyth Daneman and Murray Stainton | | | | of Hawaii. Spell-checkers catch non-word errors but |
| of the University of Toronto tested whether | | | | miss word errors - the very mistakes that people |
| proofreading one's own writing is harder than | | | | have a hard time finding. |
| proofreading someone else's. | | | | An editor, however, can provide a fresh set of eyes |
| Subjects spent 30 minutes writing an essay, then | | | | and catch errors that a student didn't even know |
| proofread their own papers as well as those written | | | | existed. In addition, editors tend to look at the text with |
| by others. The results showed that subjects were less | | | | no preconceptions about what is supposed to be |
| able to detect errors in their own essays. The reason? | | | | there, so they won't miss those image-hurting mistakes. |
| Self-generated text is too familiar to the writer. In other | | | | Some services like Scribendi go a step further by |
| words, people usually see what they expect to see in | | | | offering constructive criticism and explaining word |
| their own writing, not necessarily what is there. | | | | usage issues and standard writing practices. Students |
| And while most writers will run spelling and grammar | | | | get a better document while learning how to improve |
| checks on papers before turning them in, this is not a | | | | their own writing. |