Proofreading in a UK university: Proofreaders’ beliefs, practices, and experiences

Rewriting writing in higher education: the contested spaces of proofreading

“…There are so many non-native students that getting better marks just because one can afford paid proofreading should not be the point. (MA student from the Netherlands) My study was not concerned with the practices of those who took on the role of proofreader, whether voluntarily or commercially, but in a study at the University of Essex (Harwood, Austin, and Macaulay 2009), it was found that proofreaders also voiced ethical uncertainties, for example, around the issue of intervention in texts where the proofreader was not versed in the specific discipline. As was mentioned by one of the student interviewees, this was a contentious issue.…”

‘I Have to Hold Myself Back from Getting into All That’: Investigating Ethical Issues Associated with the Proofreading of Student Writing

“…It is easy for UK university students to find a 'proofreader' for their essay via adverts and flyers stuck on campus walls, or by contacting an online agency. Indeed, Harwood et al (2009) Arguments for and Against Proofreading as Ethical Intervention McNally and Kooyman (2017) summarize various pro-and anti-proofreading arguments made with reference to ethics. Anti-proofreading arguments focus 'on integrity, authorial ownership and the development of student writing competence, and plagiarism' (p. A-147).…”

“…44 of the 50 services contacted agreed to oblige. Harwood et al (2009Harwood et al ( , 2010Harwood et al ( , 2012 interviewed 16 proofreaders of student writing at a UK university, their first article offering an overview of their findings related to the proofreaders' profiles, beliefs, practices, and experiences. The extent to which proofreaders reportedly intervened varied, with some proofreaders prepared to go further than others.…”

“…Happily, things appear to have changed in the UK since Harwood et al's study, in that an increasing number of universities have formulated proofreading policies which are publicly available on their websites: see, for instance, the policies of the London School of Economics, 1 the University of Warwick, 2 and the University of Oxford. 3 Yet despite the increasing regulation, ethical issues remain: Harwood et al (2009) claimed that much proofreading is done by institutional outsiders, i.e., writers' family, friends, or freelance proofreaders with no connection to the university in question, and these outsiders may have little knowledge of proofreading policies and the degree to which the institution permits them to intervene. In addition, there is increasing evidence that proofreaders have differing understandings of their role and of the extent to which they should intervene (Harwood 2018;Harwood et al 2010;Kruger and Bevan-Dye 2010;Rebuck 2014).…”

A Smart Proofreader for All Natural Languages: Achieving Semantic Understanding by Majority Vote

“…While proofreading has many implications and can include everything from correcting a few commas and spelling mistakes to include advice and corrections on subject knowledge and organization [4], we will here concentrate on spelling, grammar, and the correct use of words, that is, enhancing the functionality of current spelling and grammar checkers. Such an application will be especially advantageous for users that write in a foreign language.…”