The Proof Is In The Proofing: 7 Tips To Develop Great
Proofreading Skills
In many professions, especially writing and internet marketing,
the primary form of contact with customers is via the written
word: website content, display ads, Spam-compliant emails, not
to mention forum posts and even responses to queries, etc. The
list is endless. And all of them have one thing in common: They
are based on the written word.
Because of this, the importance of proofreading one's work,
word-for-word, cannot be over-stressed. No one would think of
making a presentation while wearing a shirt covered in grease or
spaghetti-sauce stains. Nor, despite a few eccentric exceptions,
of appearing at one's wedding in sandals and baggy shorts. Yet
that is exactly the same thing as allowing even one 'typo' to
appear in the final copy of any professional text.
To avoid these written faux pas, proofreading skills are
essential. Proofreading to writing is the equivalent of house
cleaning to home design or laundering to dress-making: While the
house may be beautiful, it is nothing more than a fancy pig's
sty if not cleaned up; the gown nothing more than a rag, if not
treated properly.
But proofreading is not an easy skill to develop, primarily
because, for mystical reasons no writer will ever understand but
will nonetheless verify (myself included), once a thought has
been translated to a page, the author often develops a
specialized kind of blindness, one in which they can no longer
see what they've written clearly. Instead, all they see is what
they *intended* to say.
But there is hope. As with any skill, producing letter-perfect
copy comes with practice. Following are seven tactics for
effectly proofreading. None of them will guarantee perfect copy.
All of them have their weaknesses. But if at least two or three
are employed on a consistent basis, typographical, punctuation
and/or grammatical errors will show a marked decrease.
1) THE TRUTH ABOUT SPELL-CHECK: THERE, THEIR OR THEY'RE Upon its
release, Spell-check was touted as every writer's dream,
allowing those without secretaries (i.e., 98% of us) to forego
the tedious chore of proofreading. To say that it fell somewhat
short of that goal is an understatement. However, it IS useful
as a basic, first-run-through tool. And it does point out the
most obvious errors.
2) AS YE SPAKE "You know, you can just, like, go over to this
website and. . . "
This sentence an obvious example of one of the most common
errors in writing and is hardly ever caught during proofreading.
That is, general improper usage. As anyone learning a foreign
language can attest, there is a distinct difference between what
is acceptable in the less formal, oral format than its written
counterpart. While writing should be fluid and succinct, it
should not mimic spoken -- even well-spoken -- language. When
proofreading, the signs of this type of misuse are: Overly
informal slang; lack of reference within the context (i.e.,
over-using pronouns); and an abundance of typically oral
modifiers (but, like, you see, etc.).
3) WHO SAID *THAT*? While writing, an author so often becomes
embroiled in the act itself -- of refining a thought or idea, of
showing a progression of that thought -- that he/she loses
perspective. In the process, incomplete sentences may be left
hanging, replacement words may be put in the wrong part of a
sentence, complete thoughts might be chopped up. For this
reason, it is often easier to see these errors if, no matter
what the deadline, the writer takes a break before reading over
their copy, then comes back and reads it through from the
beginning. In this way, these type of errors will become
glaringly obvious.
4) PRINT IT OUT AND READ IT AGAIN Though it's doubtful gremlins
really do reside within printers, the fact remains that most
'typo's' can be found more easily in printed form. And, while it
*seems* more efficient to proofread the text first, *then* print
it, it actually wastes time. Perhaps it is because reading for
sense and content, reading for typos AND correcting all at once
can be a matter of covering too many bases. Whatever the case,
printing a copy makes proofreading much easier.
5) FRIENDS READ FRIEND'S COPY There is an old proofreading
saying that "a fresh pair of eyes make all the difference." This
is because after repeatedly looking at the same copy, the brain
actually stops processing the information. By asking someone
else to look over the same copy, the "fresh pair of eyes" can
find the otherwise elusive typo. Co-workers, friends, and
relatives can be the best help in this case. For long documents
or a complete website, an alternate suggestion is to hire a
professional proofreader.
6) READ IT OUTLOUD While it may seem to contradict the advice in
#2, above, reading the text aloud often forces one to recognise
a typo or grammatical error the eyes have scanned over and
missed a dozen times. This goes to the core of why proofreading
is so difficult: Simply put, the mind naturally adapts to what
it sees very quickly. If one sees the same error repeatedly,
without it being corrected, it ceases to recognise it as such.
Thus, in proofreading, our own capabilites betray us.
Professional proofreaders (yes, there is such a profession,
though now only associated with the law and publishing fields)
use a technique in which one proofreader will read aloud, while
another proofreader (using a second copy) follows along, making
corrections. This is an extreme measure, but worthwhile for any
text that must be absolutely letter-perfect.
7) THE WORLD IS YOUR EDITOR Especially in the case of a
substantial body of work (a website, for instance), an open
invitation for correction should be given. Though, again, it
seems contradictory to what has already been said here (in #5,
above), inviting the corrections of the world at large allows
for a greater source of information. And, of course, this is
only after all other efforts have been made. Even with two or
three people viewing the text, a broader forum of information
can always pick out one or two straggling typo's.
Using even one or two of these tips will enhance the body of any
author's work, allowing them to enjoy a professionalism they
would otherwise be denied. Think of it as buying a new suit and
tie, then dry-cleaning them regularly.--mo