[Kathy Swailes]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve just finished speaking to another student about the freedom that comes from using an erasable red pen for mark-up, and I mentioned that there was a whole string of posts about this topic when I first became a student (apparently back in July 2016 which was the date of the post I have tracked down, copied and pasted below). I’m sorry, but I don’t recall who wrote the post and since they are no longer with this forum, their name no longer appears on the post – so I can’t attribute it correctly. Nevertheless, the content may prove to be useful to many or you:

“This message is for absolutely everyone in the NZIBS community with a passion for pens.

I have found the ultimate oxymoron in ink – the erasable pen. I picked it up, fondled it and dared to look at the price: a whopping $2.98! I know, I know. There are cheaper pens. But they’re not erasable.

OK, here’s the ‘royal oil’. The pen is made by Pilot, it’s sold in Warehouse Stationery (a nationwide chain) and it comes in black, blue, red, purple and maybe a few other colours I missed in my excitement. And it really does erase. The pen is called a Ball Frixion Clicker 07. If you are like me, afraid of making a big smudge of mistakes, you can now relax. The erasable pen is about letting your worries go. It’s about enjoying your work and study. At long last, errors in ink are temporary. Hooray.

So, students and tutors, I encourage you to get out there and purchase your erasable pens before you commit to the printed word. I think you will find that your work flows better without Twink. Thank you, Pilot.”

I will give you one note of warning however, that erasable ink is supposed to fade in extreme heat (but can be brought back apparently by putting the paper in the freezer – or so I’m told) and also, reportedly, fades over time. Since I did most of my assignments with erasable ink, and at least half are more than a year old and my tutor’s marks and comments were also in erasable ink (purple), I can confirm that the marks are still very legible and do not appear to have faded at all yet. But if you’re marking up something for posterity, you should be warned that apparently it doesn’t last forever!

[Kathy Swailes]

Oh – and one more thing – you can buy them in Whitcoulls too, but a little pricier I think. And there are other brands or styles too. When I last looked, there were about three different pens (and many colours, but definitely all styles came in red ink) around the same price which I think was around the $4 mark.

[Helen Borrett]

Thanks for this. Although I copy my assignments and work on each copy, progressively checking my findings against each one, I still often find an error in my final read through just before I send. This will make life easier.

Helen

 

 

[Contact NZIBS]

This is probably more useful than what I do for each assignment actually, which is go through it in pencil first and then go over it in red pen when I’m happy with it.

[Kathy Swailes]

LOL Victoria – Yes, we’ve all done that and it’s a pain in the neck as you often miss the pencil marks. Erasable red ink is the way to go in my opinion. Enjoy the freedom!