There are a lot of people who think that proofreading is an innate ability. But the truth is that this skill is actually acquired. You can transform yourself into the expert proofreader you have always dreamed of becoming if you follow these tips.
You are the best judge of yourself. That you can determine exactly what your most common mistakes are. Whether it's placing the "e" before the "I," or simply forgetting the semi-colon; once you familiarize yourself with your most common mistakes, proofreading will become much easier.
Remember, proofreading is not about misspelled words only; most likely those are caught by the application you are using like MS Word spell checker. Things such as incorrect sentence structure, repetition, and text which does not flow well together are what you need to look for.
The document should be left for a while and return with new eyes. By walking away from your work and taking a quick break, you will notice that your outlook has changed completely when you return.
Read out loud and slow down. There are a lot of errors that are caught when you read the text slow and out loud to yourself. You realize things like: this sentence sounds strange, or I repeated this word 5 times in the same paragraph!
Playing tricks on you is your subconscious. There are times when you read what you think should be there and not what is actually there. This means that you need to acquire the skill that overcomes the power of the subconscious. What is that skill? What you need to do is simply read what is actually on the page.
Never settle for one quick glance over your paper. Read it several times to be sure that you have not missed any possible error.
Try to work with a friend or hire professional help. There is nothing like another set of eyes to look over your work for you. After working on a document for so long, it becomes too familiar. Having an unbiased party view your paper is never a bad idea.
Once a word is misspelled, then it will always be a misspelled word. Faulty information embedded in your mind is what this has become. When the word is misspelled in a way that MS Word will catch it, then it's no problem but when the misspelled version happens to be a word too, then that's the absolute worse thing. In that case, the application absolutely will not catch that error! Examples would include your and you're or sea and see.
You may end up misspelling or incorrectly structuring a sentence the one second you are not on your guard or are paying attention. Remember that your mind works faster than your fingers. Always remember that when you proofread somebody else's work you are more likely to detect errors than proofreading your own work.
As for professionals, they proofread their work over 10 times. Now, by following these guidelines, you can too!
You are the best judge of yourself. That you can determine exactly what your most common mistakes are. Whether it's placing the "e" before the "I," or simply forgetting the semi-colon; once you familiarize yourself with your most common mistakes, proofreading will become much easier.
Remember, proofreading is not about misspelled words only; most likely those are caught by the application you are using like MS Word spell checker. Things such as incorrect sentence structure, repetition, and text which does not flow well together are what you need to look for.
The document should be left for a while and return with new eyes. By walking away from your work and taking a quick break, you will notice that your outlook has changed completely when you return.
Read out loud and slow down. There are a lot of errors that are caught when you read the text slow and out loud to yourself. You realize things like: this sentence sounds strange, or I repeated this word 5 times in the same paragraph!
Playing tricks on you is your subconscious. There are times when you read what you think should be there and not what is actually there. This means that you need to acquire the skill that overcomes the power of the subconscious. What is that skill? What you need to do is simply read what is actually on the page.
Never settle for one quick glance over your paper. Read it several times to be sure that you have not missed any possible error.
Try to work with a friend or hire professional help. There is nothing like another set of eyes to look over your work for you. After working on a document for so long, it becomes too familiar. Having an unbiased party view your paper is never a bad idea.
Once a word is misspelled, then it will always be a misspelled word. Faulty information embedded in your mind is what this has become. When the word is misspelled in a way that MS Word will catch it, then it's no problem but when the misspelled version happens to be a word too, then that's the absolute worse thing. In that case, the application absolutely will not catch that error! Examples would include your and you're or sea and see.
You may end up misspelling or incorrectly structuring a sentence the one second you are not on your guard or are paying attention. Remember that your mind works faster than your fingers. Always remember that when you proofread somebody else's work you are more likely to detect errors than proofreading your own work.
As for professionals, they proofread their work over 10 times. Now, by following these guidelines, you can too!
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