Foolproof Your Proofreading Techniques

Getting it right the first time is important, whether it’s a brief email, a white paper, a landing page, or a in-depth online article. Taking the time to ensure the text is clear and concise, error-free, and engaging gives you a professional edge. Here are some proofreading tips that will help make you and your copy look good.

Take a Break

Write the first draft. Do any necessary revisions. Take a break before settling down to proofread. Then come back to your final draft.

No Distractions

Proofreading requires all of your concentration. When proofing a document, get rid of any distractions – turn off cell phone/television/radio, close browsers/tabs, commit to not checking email until you’re done. Try to eliminate potential interruptions: ask not to be disturbed or do your proofreading somewhere else.

Paper Copy

Print out the text that needs proofing. If you’ve already read it over on screen, you might be surprised at how many errors you’ll find proofing the physical copy. People read text differently on a screen than they do words on paper.

One Letter at a Time

Because the brain expects to see the whole word, often a person misses the fact that parts of a word are missing. When proofing a document, rather than reading the words, read the individual letters of each word instead. This is an excellent technique to catch errors made when vowels or consonants are left out, for example “dictonary” instead of “dictionary.”

Out Loud

Another handy proofing technique is to read the copy out loud to yourself or to a volunteer listener. The process will also help you identify areas of text that don’t make sense, reveal missing words, and repeated words or ideas.

Overlooking Areas of a Document

While the body of a document might get our undivided attention, common areas that can be overlooked are:

• Information in tables

• Numbers - ensure they are correct and not transposed; check dollar amounts for missing commas or periods in the wrong place

• Information appearing in headers and/or footers

• Pagination

• Quotations and citations

• Subject lines in emails or subheadings in reports, manuals, etc.

Take special care that any personal names or the names of countries appearing in an article, document, or email are spelled correctly.

Spell Check Programs

The spell check function of most word processing programs only checks if the word is spelt incorrectly. Keep in mind that a spell checker doesn’t catch:

• Homonyms – words spelt or pronounced the same but have different meanings, e.g. compliment or complement

• When an apostrophe should be used – people often mix up its (possessive) for it’s (contraction of it is) or make the plural of a decade possessive, e.g. the 1990's instead of the 1990s

• Words that are words but have been used incorrectly, e.g. form instead of from, tow instead of two

Punctuation

Correct punctuation is also part of good grammar. Pay attention to:

• Words in need of capitalization

• Missing commas

• Too many commas

• Periods used incorrectly

• Using a semi-colon when a colon should be used

• Unnecessary quotation marks - use for quoting someone else words or to denote sarcasm/skepticism/irony but not for emphasizing a single word or popular phrase

• Excessive use of exclamation points

Fresh Pair of Eyes

A technique many professional writers find useful is to give a printed version to a friend or co-worker. At this stage of the game, you don't need the copy critiqued. Be clear in your instructions to the person agreeing to help you out - you just require a fresh pair eyes to catch any typos or grammatical errors that you missed.

Proofreading is important for a number of reasons. It eliminates grammatical errors, helps ensure spelling is correct, and demonstrates professional competency and attention to detail.