Lunsford and Lunsford's "Mistakes Are a Part of Life"

Lunsford and Lunsford recreate the same frequency of errors study Connors and Lunsford published in 1988. They reason that in twenty-plus years, writing pedagogy and writing have changed considerably. For instance, in the first study, most of the writing samples were hand-written with just a few typed, and not a single document was computer generated. The single most common error was spelling which accounted for three times the number of grammatical errors. Because spelling represented such a significant number in the first study, Connors and Lunsford did not even consider spelling in their initial article and focused on just grammar. However, because of word processing and spell checks, the current study indicates that spelling has become the fifth leading error in writing.

The current study also differs because of the process of obtaining writing samples. In the first study, invitations to faculty across the nation simple submitted copies of their students’ papers which produced over 3000 samples. However, because of federal privacy regulations, the researchers had to receive permission and student samples through institutional research boards, which greatly curtailed the number of samples to 877.

The twenty most common formal errors in the new study include:

1. Wrong word
2. Missing comma after an introductory element
3. Incomplete or missing documentation
4. Vague pronoun reference
5. Spelling error (including homonyms)
6. Mechanical error with quotation
7. Unnecessary comma
8. Unnecessary or missing capitalization
9. Missing word
10. Faulty sentence structure
11. Missing comma with a nonrestrictive element
12. Unnecessary shift in verb tense
13. Missing comma in a compound sentence
14. Unnecessary or missing apostrophe
15. Fused sentence
16. Comma splice
17. Lack of pronoun-antecedent agreement
18. Poorly integrated quotation
19. Unnecessary or missing hyphen
20. Sentence fragment

What distinguishes some of the differences between the current and past study of errors, is the current study suggests students are writing longer papers (twice as long), focusing on documented arguments, and obviously using technology to write. In terms of grammar errors, the new study now includes documentation errors as part of the most frequent errors.

This is a very accessible article that helps examine the errors that we commonly experience as we write and teach writing.

Lunsford, Andrea A. and Karen J. Lunsford. "'Mistakes are a Fact of Life': A National Comparative Study." College Composition and Communication 59.4 (2008): 781-806.