May 29, 2013 / Beginner

Quick Tip: Three Steps for Perfect Proofing

There’s a tedious but necessary final step before hitting “publish”: proofreading. If you’re anything like me, proofreading is the antithesis of writing, cruelly shunting you from an intuitive, creative flow to the much-less-fulfilling world of misplaced commas and accidental their/there/they’re confusion.

Still, it’s gotta be done; an error dulls the shine from the most sparkling prose, and even personal, stream-of-consciousness posts benefit from good copyediting. Try these three steps to become your own best editor:

  1. Check for accuracy. Is everything you’ve written correct? This is critical if what you’re writing includes things like dates, contact information, or data — it’s easy for our eyes to skip over a street address we’ve seen a hundred times, so take a minute to focus on these details. Accuracy is about more than just verifying the spelling of an email address, though. If you’re offering instructions, are they clear and comprehensive? Is anything open to misinterpretation? Be your own devil’s advocate and give your writing a once-over from a reader’s perspective.
  2. Be merciless with nips and tucks. Editing is as important as writing; your first draft is just that — a draft. Heck, even the second and third drafts may be works-in-progress. Once you’ve got all your ideas down clearly and accurately and you think you’re happy, take a figurative x-acto knife to your words. Is each word necessary? Is each word as strong as it can be? Does each word advance your point? Be hard on yourself. (Don’t cut out words or ideas just for editing’s sake, though — going too far can undermine your message and damage the flow of a post.)
  3. Double-check spelling and grammar. Last but not least, comb through your post for spelling errors, grammar missteps, and typos. You’ve got a proofreading tool built right into the post editor: click on the “ABC” icon to activate it, and get spelling and grammar fixes along with style suggestions. A caveat, though: we’ve all seen mistakes in computer-checked documents, so do a final read yourself. If you’re like me, a quick reader and prone to missing mistakes, reading your post out loud is a great way to catch lingering gaffes — you’ll hear the mistake (along with any clunky sentences that snuck past your x-acto knife). Having a friend with fresh eyes do a final review can also be a lifesaver.

If you can take a quick breather between each step, all the better; taking a break from your words makes it more likely that you can evaluate them critically on your return. If you don’t have time, no big deal. Simply paying more attention to each element of proofreading and copyediting will lead you toward stronger writing.

Do you have any tricks for tightening your writing and catching mistakes? Share, please!

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  1. I agree with you on proftreading your work and it is the worse part of writing. But even more confusing than that, trying to understand all the sybles that wordpress uses to proftread. I just can’t find out were spell check, is or how to fix grammar, It would be different if I were working with a word document but there is now one to explain how to work the proftreading buttons on the edit page. So what I have to do is write my blog in a word application and copy it and past it into my blog after and that is a drag because I need to know what the buttons means.

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  2. I read paragraphs out of order and can sometimes spot mistakes. If I get away for a couple of hours or look it over the next day, I often see where I can improve the article.
    Great reminders! I hate it when I find an error after I post…

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  3. This is one of those posts where I learned as much from the great comments,as I did from the excellent post.My proof reading tip?Read the whole post and the comments carefully.

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  5. Thank you for all the advice. The problem I’ve had on WP is frustrating. Many times I have edited my work and thought I saved the corrections. After publishing, to the WP audience, or others, my fresh editing disapears and it remains uncorrected. I haven’t purchased my WP site. Is this the reason my corrections don’t post?

    Any suggestions appreciated.
    Thank you,
    Bojenn

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    1. That certainly shouldn’t be the case. If it happens again — which I hope it won’t, especially with the new auto-saving features that have just been implemented — check your post revisions. Is there correct version in there, but not being published? And then get in touch with support, and we’ll help you figure this one out.

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    2. And no, it has nothing to do with whether or not you’ve spend money on your site — everyone should have total control over what they post, no matter what type of account they have.

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  7. Hi! thanks for sharing these tips. I try to write ahead so that gives me time to step away from each post and come back with a fresh eye. I also like to read aloud. When writing something with dates or directions, I like to get another person to read and see if the post is clear.

    Cheers,
    Marie

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  8. Great tips from everyone – even for those of us who enjoy the proofreading process. For example, I’d never even heard of the “one-line drafting technique” THENAKEDLISTENER mentions. Will investigate! I do tell my own kids to be merciless with nips and tucks (though I have not used exactly those clever words – I will adopt them going forward). I love your paragraph on accuracy. Thank you.

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  9. Great post! I always miss something in the proofing. One trick a high school English teacher taught me, was to read you writing backwards. That usually slows me down enough to pay attention to the spelling of the words. The eye sees what it wants to see….

    Love all the comments, wish I had time to read them all. I skimmed and didn’t see this tip. Sorry if it’s a repeat. Loved the post. Thanks!

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  10. When all else fails… I let my readers proofread me. :p

    Or to put it this way: since blogs are essentially living documents that can be edited endlessly, it’s not as crucial to get it right the first time. I typically do one read through, but if I miss something (or even get a few facts wrong) well… that’s what editor’s notes and acknowledgements are for.

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  12. Another ‘trick’ is to proof it from the end to the beginning. That way you’re not simply reading it, but checking it word by word. Tedious and time consuming yes, but if you have to rely on yourself, the writer, it can make a big difference.

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  13. I am Thai woman. first time I post by Thai language but yes when translation to English,it is different. then I try to post by English.hope reader are understand because I am not good in English..but I wish to share my work to people. happy with friends

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  14. I find it easier to spot typos and other mistakes more easily in ‘preview’, for some reason. I still miss some though! It’s so easy to ‘see’ what you think you’ve written, or what you ‘know’ is there!

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  16. Great post. I enjoyed reading the comments too; they let me know that I’m not the only one who struggles with this issue. My primary tips have already been mentioned: use the preview option and read aloud.

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  17. Hi Michelle, these tips helped me a lot especially the reading it out loud part. It’s sometime so hard to correct the work you wrote, having someone else proof read seems so much easier.

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