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PROOFREADING YOUR
OWN DOCUMENT by Jan Kovarik
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You've just written an important
paper, business communique, or other document that will be read by others and
perhaps will be the basis for a classroom grade, a prospective business
arrangement, or provide necessary information for a specific situation.
Regardless of the end use of this document, it is important to you that it not
contain any errors or embarrassing grammar and punctuation mistakes. You've run
spellcheck, but you understand that spellcheck isn't foolproof. Your document
needs to be proofread.
Ideally, you need a professional proofreader
(or some other objective person) to read your document and correct whatever
errors there might be in it. However, time and circumstance are not always
conducive to using a proofreader. When this happens, you have to proofread it
yourself.
Self-proofreading is fraught with pitfalls, the biggest of
which is that you are "too close" to the text. That is, you know what you meant
to write, even if that's not exactly what you did write. Your brain can easily
fill in the gaps and skim over simple errors like an incorrect wrong verb tense
or a missed word in a well-used phrase. The mechanism in your brain that does
this is called your "short-term memory"---and it can be very strong. Before you
self-proofread, you need to allow your short-term memory (STM) to "dump" (that
is, to allow what is stored in your STM to be deleted).
After you have
finished your document---WALK AWAY. You need a minimum of 30 minutes between
having finished the document and proofreading it. It is best if you do
something that is completely disassociated with that document: work on
something else that has no connection to the text in your document, go for a
walk, make a few phone calls, or clean the cobwebs out of the corners of the
ceiling. Clear your head in any manner you wish, but be sure to do it.
When you are ready to proofread your own document, do not read it from
start to finish. It is best if you can print it; this will allow you to read it
in non-sequential order. Read the middle two pages first, go back and read the
beginning, and then read the last pages. Reading your text out of order will
make it easier for you to see what is really there instead of what you want to
see.
As you read along, if you "stumble" on any particular sentence,
then go back and read it aloud. Yes---say the words. Better yet, put your
finger under each word as you say it. This technique will help you to "hear"
the error (maybe a wrong verb tense or a word that is missing). When you find
an error (spelling, missing word, wrong word, missing punctuation), mark it on
the printed page. You don't have to know proofreading marks---just use whatever
shorthand you'll understand.
After you have read your paper, out of
order, make all the corrections that you have marked. Be careful! It is really
easy to insert that comma in the wrong place (and I'm speaking from experience
here!). Key in the correction, and then review it on screen. Continue through
your entire document, making all the corrections needed.
At this
point, you should use "Find" to locate your trouble words. Perhaps you always
waffle about whether to use affect or effect. Maybe you know that you often use
it's when you should use its. Enter your trouble word(s) into the Find field,
and click on Find Next until you have gone through the entire document.
Now you need to rerun spellcheck. For a tip on how to reset spellcheck (so
that spellcheck will actually re-check the entire document, not just the
changes that you made), go to "How to Re-Set Spellchecker," at: (http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/ResetSpellcheck.htm).
If time permits, walk away from this document again for 30 minutes.
Since you've already cleaned out the cobwebs, maybe it's time to rearrange your
sock drawer. Come back to the document and skim through it one more time. If
your brain stumbles over anything, read it aloud, put your finger under each
word, and check for wrong verb tense, missing word, wrong word, etc. If you
change even one thing, then you need to re-set your spellcheck and run it one
last time.
Here's a final word of caution about spellcheck: Spellcheck
does not always suggest the right thing. That is, spellcheck might stop at its
and suggest that it is a commonly mis-used word, do you want to change its to
it's. Don't get "Change" happy. When spellcheck beeps, look at the correction
it is suggesting and then re-read the sentence in its entirety. If, in fact,
you want to make the change suggested, then do so. If not, then hit Ignore and
continue on. Likewise, don't get "Ignore" happy---every time spellcheck
hiccups, review the change being suggested, re-read the sentence in its
entirety, and make a decision to make the change or to ignore it.
There are many other ways that your computer can help you to produce a
document that is free of error. For other helpful articles, please go to my
index of Writing and Grammar articles at: http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/#Grammar_and_Writing
Through intelligent use of your computer's word processing software,
spellcheck, and your brain, you can produce an [almost] error-free document.
About the Author:
Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance
proofreader and copyeditor. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more
information about Jan’s proofreading and copyediting services and Jan's
other free resources. Please visit Mom's Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/)
for free printable crafts and projects.
© Copyright 2005. All
rights reserved.
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