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Proofreading 101, by Darlene Bishop There are three basic steps that you need to take every time you create a piece of writing, be it a letter, article, whatever. These are basic proofreading steps. ALL YOUR WRITING SHOULD BE PROOFED BY THESE THREE CRITERIA. There are other steps in proofreading that we will cover in upcoming issues of ProofPositive, but these three initial steps will minimize your writing errors dramatically. Begin to use them TODAY! 1. LOOK OVER THE MATERIAL AS IF IT WERE A PICTURE. Look for spacing and margin errors, poor layout design, errors in placement of text boxes and graphics, misaligned indentations, bullets and numbering, etc. Get a feel for the overall impression of the piece. 2. READ THE MATERIAL ONCE FOR MEANING. We will work on grammar and punctuation as we progress into our proofreading education. For now, check the basics - comprehension and clarity. You might want to ask someone else to read it for you, especially if you have worked on the same document for quite awhile. It seems the more we look at a document (and I use that term for any writing we do), the more likely it becomes that we will miss an error. Ask a friend to help, or if the writing is important, hire a professional editor/proofreader. 3. READ THE MATERIAL AGAIN - CAREFULLY. Read word by word, or letter by letter. Check for typos, misspellings, incorrect word usage, skipped words, etc. Read SLOWLY. You might want to read out loud at this point so words or errors are not unintentionally skipped. If you find yourself in the "reading for content" mode, reading phrases or sentences, rather than checking each word or letter for correctness, you might try reading the document backwards. It definitely helps you slow down! We all make mistakes in our writing, and occasionally those mistakes will make it to print, but proofreading is an essential element of document production if we want to present a polished, professional image to the public. Copyright © Darlene Bishop. Darlene is a professional with nearly two decades of experience writing and editing ezines and newsletters, press releases and much more for both print and electronic media, and is the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles on a variety of topics. Visit her website to learn more about her full line of writing and editorial services. | Back to Articles | Back to Writer's Information |

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