A Proofreading Pass

In practice

This worked example is constructed for this course. The passage reads: "In her book the long road home, the Historian Maria Lopez argues that the great migration reshaped northern cities. Her chapter “Arrivals” draws on letters published in the chicago defender, a newspaper whose readers were often the migrants themselves. Lopez's argument effects how we read later novels, such as Toni Morrison's “Jazz.”" Proofread in order. First, capitals: The Long Road Home is a book title, so its important words take capitals; Historian before a name used as a description needs no capital, so write "the historian Maria Lopez"; the Great Migration names a specific historical movement and the Chicago Defender names a specific newspaper, so both take capitals. Second, title format: the book and the newspaper stand alone, so they are italicized; the chapter "Arrivals" is part of a larger work, so quotation marks are right; the novel Jazz stands alone, so it should be italicized, not quoted. Third, words the spell-checker accepts: effects should be affects, since the argument influences reading. Fourth, a final read aloud confirms that nothing else snags. Every error here would pass a spell-checker, and none changes the argument, yet together they would cost the writer credibility with a careful reader.