Proofreading Strategies

Proofreading Strategies

Tips to Help You Produce Error Free Work

Reading any document that has grammatical, spelling, or other mistakes is not a pleasant exercise. What I find particularly annoying is the misuse of; “there”, “their” and “they’re”; and, “your’ and “you’re”. However, we should not automatically assume that all perpetrators guilty of these words misuse all lack a basic knowledge of English grammar. We all on occasions make mistakes, and I, for one, have been guilty on numerous occasions.

To write good, easily readable English prose, we need to have; a reasonable vocabulary, and knowledge of English grammar and spelling. But, we also need skills in proofreading.

Proofreading has been a part of my regular writing routine for many years, before I hit “publish” or “send”. But often, after reading the published copy, I still find mistakes. This happened as recently as yesterday. After publishing an article, which I had proofread a couple of times before publishing, I found mistakes as soon as I read the published copy. In one place I had used the wrong conjunction. In another I had the word “wonder”, when the word I should have used was “wander”.

Why do these mistakes occur even when we are reasonably careful with our proofreading?

One reason is that we tend to read what it was that we intended to write instead of what was actually written. I find it far easier to find mistakes in something that someone else has written as opposed to what I have personally written. This is even when my work may have just as many mistakes, or even more than the other person’s.

One strategy therefore would be to get someone else to proofread your work after you have proofread it. Perhaps you could find someone to work with you and to be mutual mentors for each other.

I am as guilty as the preacher in John Seldon’s “Table Talk” here. You know what he said, “do as I say, not as I do”. I do not have one of these mentors, and my published work would probably improve if I had a mutual mentor.

In the past I found that I could read something I had written on a screen several times and think it was all okay. But, after I had printed off a hard copy which I could hold in my hands, I sometimes found mistakes which I had missed when reading the same work on the screen. This is another strategy which may work for you.

Since retiring from my role as lecturer, I no longer need a printer to prepare work for students. And as a part of my decluttering, got rid of printers, document cameras, projectors and other presentation equipment. On rare occasions when I need prints, I access the local print shop.

A strategy I have always advised my students is, if a document is not required urgently, it is best to write it, and then come back to it the next day. Invariably, you will be able to improve upon what you have written, and you often will find mistakes that were previously missed. This technique is particularly important when you are about to send emails and you are in an emotional state such as being angry. Once you have hit that “send” button it can not be retrieved.

I have a confession to make here.

Once again I am a bit like that preacher who said, “do as I say, not as I do”. I have a sense of excitement when I have finished writing what it was that I had set out to write, and I am usually impatient to get it published as quickly as possible.

There is software available for writers which may be of help. I have not published any books or magazines recently, but when I was doing so, software programs that I found useful were; Serif Page Plus X 9 and Write it Now.

Page Plus was particularly useful for laying out pages for magazines, and Write it Now was good for keeping track of chapters and ideas etc., when authoring books.

A web search will reveal several sites offering programs to improve writing. Grammarly seems to be the most popular, or maybe it is the site most promoted. It advertises that it will, “correct all grammar errors and enhance your writing”. Its web site shows that it has a few different versions available. There is a free version and others that you pay a subscription for.

I have not used Grammarly, but if it is like other programs, which with I have been involved, having both free and paid versions. The free version seems like a ‘carrot’ to get you interested, but also gets you frustrated by its limitations, so you purchase the paid version.

A site which is advertised as being free is Write and Improve. This site is provided in association with Cambridge English, a part of the University of Cambridge.

It advertises the following:

"Improve your writing fast. It's free.

1) Practise writing English

2) Get your grade in seconds

3) Look at the feedback and make changes

4) Keep improving! "

One more site which may be worth checking out is Pro Writing Aid. It is another subscribe to site. But, for me personally, I could not justify spending the amount they were asking for in their subscriptions. If you were writing on a full-time, or almost full-time basis, their fees could be okay if the program was useful. They advertise their program as, “a grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package”, being for, “the smarter writer”.

With this global lock-down we are currently experiencing, many of us have additional time on our hands for writing. I hope some of the strategies I have suggested will help you with your writing.