Proofread and Edit Like a Pro

"If the writer doesn't sweat, the reader will."

- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Let typographical errors, grammatical errors and misspellings slip into your letters, reports and memos, and you can kiss your credibility goodbye, professional experts say.  Careful proofreading is the key to written communication that makes you and your organization look good.

If you find it tough to catch every error in written documents, you are not alone!  Proofreading effectively is a challenge because as a professional, you have learned to read quickly for meaning by skimming through paragraphs.  You no longer need to read word for word, so it's easy to miss mistakes.  The advent of "spell check" on word processing programs has caused many people to rely on the computer to proofread instead of doing it by hand.  Do not make this error, because spell-checkers often do not flag mistakes.

To proofread and edit accurately, you should review the document carefully AT LEAST twice:  once to edit-proof and again to proofread.  Do not try to combine the two steps, or you will continue to miss errors.

Here is how the two-step proofreading process works:

Step One:Edit-Proofing

During edit-proofing, you read only for content and meaning.  Are there factual errors?  Are words misused?  Are words missing?  Are there words or phrases that should be eliminated to make the meaning of the sentence clearer?  Are statements confusing?  Are there redundant sentences that should be eliminated?  Are names and dates correct?  Are terms used that the reader might not understand?  Is the purpose of the document clear?

Step Two:Proofreading

The second step is to do another thorough read-through, reading slowly to focus on each word.  Look for typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, transposed numbers, misplaced apostrophes, capitalization problems and any other mistakes.

Proofreading is hard work that takes time, but it does not have to be drudgery.  You can proofread far more accurately using the following techniques:

Use a proofreading "buddy."  Find a co-worker who is willing to swap proofreading duties.  Read your co-worker's outgoing documents, and your co-worker will read yours.  Your co-worker will be looking at your words with fresh eyes.  You are likely to receive comments such as:  "I don't understand this part."  "What do you mean by this?"  "You forgot _____."  "I'm not sure you can say that the way you did."  Hearing these comments from a proofreading buddy is a lot better than hearing them from the person to whom you have to give the document.

Read your writing aloud.  This is especially helpful when you are proofreading your own work, because your ears can pick up problems your eyes don't spot on the page.  If you read the words you've written and they don't sound natural, revise your message.  If you run out of breath before you run out of words, you know your sentences are too long.

Check for spelling by working backwards.  Start at the bottom of the page and proof the lines right to left as you move toward the top of the page.  This trick forces you to focus on each word.

Place a business card under the line of text you are proofing.  This will keep you from being distracted by the next line of text and is a useful technique particularly if the document you are proofing isn't double spaced.

Watch out for the little words.  It is easy to miss "the," "a," "and," "to," "too," and other small words that are left out or used improperly.

Purge extraneous words from every phrase.  Weed out any word that adds nothing to the meaning or are redundant.  Repetition can be useful at times to emphasize a critical message, but needless redundancy can be tiresome and appear disorganized.  Following are some phrases to look for and their one-word alternatives in parentheses.

• At this point in time (now)
• At which time (when)
• Based on the fact that (because)
• Exhibits a tendency to (tends to)
• For the purpose of (for)
• In order to (to)
• In the event that (if)
• A large number of (many, or a specific number)
• Exact same (exact)
• Every single (every)
• Few in number (few)
• Final or end result (result)
• Join together (join)
• Mutual cooperation (cooperation)
• Past experience (experience)
• First and foremost (first)
• Close proximity (close)
• General rule (rule)
• Overall plan (plan)
• Prior warnings (warnings)
• So as to (to)
• As to whether (whether)
• During the course of (during)

Avoid the following:

• 'til.  This word should never appear in professional writing as a substitute for until or till.
• Try and.  Never try and do something.  Try to do something, or better yet, do something.
• Thusly.  Use thus or therefore instead.
• Utilize.  In most cases, use is a much better choice.
• Basically, essentially, totally.  These words rarely add anything useful to a sentence.  Take them out of the sentence and you will almost always improve it.
• Being that or being as.  These words are nonstandard substitutions for because.
• Due to the fact that.  Using this phrase is a sure sign that your sentence is in trouble.  Did you mean because?
• Each and every.  Use one or the other, but not both.
• Equally as.  Something can be equally important or one thing can be as important as another, but not equally as important.
• Etc.  It's better to provide one more example than to use this abbreviation.  Using "etc." suggests that you could have written more but chose not to.
• Nature.  Work to eliminate this word.  Movies of a violent nature are probably just violent movies.
• Orientate.  New employees become oriented, not orientated in the United States.  Only in Britain do they become orientated.  The same applies to administrate - we administer a project; we do not administrate it.

Substitute short, punchy words for long, showy ones.  In an effort to sound polished and educated, people sometimes use words that are more complicated than they need to be.  It's always best to choose the most straightforward terms possible.  The following words should be banished from your written documents:

Don't say.          Instead, say.

articulate                 explain

culmination              end

endeavor                 try

facilitate                  ease or help

indication                sign

reiterate                  repeat

utilize                      use

aggregate                total

Drop the word "finalize" from your document.  It's an all-purpose hedge word, but what does it really mean?  If you say you will plan to finalize a contract next week, what are you saying you will do?  Agree to it?  Sign it?  Finish writing it?  Be specific.  "I'll make a decision whether to sign the contract next week."

Avoid vague adjectives.  Instead of writing "We received numerous inquiries," write "We received 104 inquiries."

Eliminate clichés.  Do not let outdated and overused phrases creep into your writing, and if you find them while editing, take them out.  These expressions irritate the reader and reduce your credibility.  Some of the worst offenders include:

• Needless to say.  If it's needless, don't say it.
• I am writing this letter to inform you that.  It's obvious you are writing a letter, and a letter always informs.
• At your earliest convenience.  Give a specific date or time frame.  You may man next week, but the reader may find a month is his/her earliest convenience.
• Please be advised that. This phrase is utterly meaningless.
• Thanking you in advance.  A simple "Thank you" will do.
• In the event that. A simple "if" will do.

What about ending sentences with a preposition?  The English language is flexible and constantly evolving.  What we once considered hard-and-fast rules tend to loosen up as time passes.  For example, the idea-not a strict rule-that we shouldn't end sentences with prepositions has changed.  It is now considered permissible to end a sentence with a preposition if it helps the reader or listener understand your thought.  Rewording a sentence might make it more grammatically correct to some, but the results are often awkward or stilted.  Natural-"Sometimes it is hard to know what others are thinking of."  Awkward-"Sometimes it is hard to know about what others are thinking."

Should the word "that" be eliminated?  Some writers go to extremes to eliminate the word "that" in their sentences.  Be careful about omitting "that" when doing so might make a sentence unclear.  Example:  "We were told last year we couldn't use this as match."  This sentence can be interpreted two ways:"We were told that last year we couldn't use this as match" or "We were told last year that we couldn't use this as match."  When you are not sure, use "that."  Leaving it out could confuse readers, but leaving it in rarely will.

Eliminate gender from your writing.  Good writers use gender-neutral language-and not just because they want to be politically correct.  Careful writers strive to write without ambiguity.  Calling attention to gender when not specifically appropriate for the situation will dilute the effectiveness of your message.  Follow the following tips for making your writing clear and compelling without showing gender bias.

1. Use the same terms for everyone.  Many people use the word "chairperson" only when referring to a female.  When the chair is male, they write "chairman."  That is a sneaky way of appearing to be gender neutral without actually being so.  Use generic terms consistently for males and females.
2. Solve the pronoun problem.  Gender-neutral language can sometimes be cumbersome.  "He or she" and "his or her" phrases are unwieldy at best.  Rely on plurals whenever possible.  Rewrite a sentence such as "When a volunteer requests an answer, call him right away" to read "When volunteers request answers, call them right away."
3. Update your language.  These days you need never start a business letter to an unknown recipient with "Dear Sir or Madam."  It is old-fashioned and stiff, and the recipient may not identify with either term.  When you don't know the name, open the letter instead with a job title, such as "Dear Manager."

Look for two- or three-word terms that should be hyphenated.  Hyphenation rules trip up even the most competent writers and editors.  If is correct to hyphenate a two-word or three-word term, such as "one-step" or "easy-to-use" if the phrase is used as an adjective (modifying a noun.)  These terms are not hyphenated if the phrase is used as an adverb (modifying the verb or predicate.)  EXAMPLES:  "Proofreading is not a one-step process" and "The easy-to-use instructions make the project simple."  In these cases the words "one-step" and "easy-to-use" are hyphenated because they are used to modify or describe the nouns (process and instructions.)  You would not hyphenate in the following cases:  "Proofreading must be done one step at a time."  "The instructions were easy to use, making the project simple."  In these cases, "one step" and "easy to use" are used to modify the verbs "be done" and "were."

Trim your paragraphs.  Long paragraphs annoy readers.  In fact, if your paragraph is too long, readers are likely to scan or even skip it.  Of even more concern, if your paragraph is too long, you will be likely to scan it during your proofreading.  Use the 1-2-3-4-5 formula for focusing paragraphs.  1 main thought, expressed in 2-3 short sentences, taking up to 4-5 lines on the page.

If you do proofreading and editing on the computer, view your document at 125% or 150%.  You can better see what you are reading and more easily spot errors.

Put these techniques into action, and your proofreading and editing accuracy will improve in a major way.  You will also see your credibility soar as you catch embarrassing errors before you've circulated that memo, handed out that report, or sent in that very important proposal.