Proofreading is tough! It takes time, patience and (I believe) a specific set of skills but your credibility is compromised every time an error sneaks past you. This week’s guest blog post is by professional proofreader, editor and copywriter Trish Arnott of Spell-Bound Services.
It’s well worth your while to employ a proofreader; it’s hard to pick up errors in your own work. However, if you choose to proofread your copy yourself, then here is a systematic way to go about it.
Step 1: Read every word syllable by syllable.
This is the most important step as it’s when you’ll find you’ve written ‘enquires’, not ‘enquiries’ or ‘destintion’ instead of ‘destination’, or used ‘to’ when you should have used ‘too’. You’ll also notice if you’ve used a pesky preposition twice, or doubled up on a sentence or phrase when you copied and pasted.
Many of us self-correct when we read our own work but reading syllable by syllable will stop you from doing just that.
Step 2: Expand acronyms and contractions.
Whatever it is, spell it out in full, followed by the acronym in brackets if you use it again; for example, Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It’s also a good idea to expand ‘e.g.’, ‘i.e.’ and ‘etc’. The two former are confused often but they won’t be if you write ‘for example’ and ‘that is’. Try to avoid using ampersands (&). Copy that’s peppered with ampersands just looks cheap.
Step 3: Remove (most) adverbs, adjectives, jargon and ‘buzz words’.
This step is more for copywriters and editors but a good proofreader wears more than one hat. Use descriptive adverbs or adjectives only when the noun or verb really needs to be qualified for sense. Most copy is improved when you remove the flowery stuff and industry jargon.
Most buzz words and phrases (‘passionate’, ‘proactive’, ‘moving forward’, ‘effective’ or ‘dynamic’, to quote a few) are overused to the point where they are meaningless so use alternatives.
Step 4: Check that your copy makes sense.
It’s easy to ramble when you’re familiar with a topic but you should read the copy from the perspective of your target audience. Will complete newcomers to the topic understand what you’re trying to tell them?
There’s much more to proofreading than simply picking up spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Good proofreaders have general knowledge of a wide range of topics and industries. They’ll pick up clangers such as an article about the Indonesian Rupiah linked to the main article about the Indian Rupee, or recognise that Mr Mujherejee should be Mr Mukherjee. However, if you follow the four-step system, you’ll pick up any flaws (and learn to avoid those mistakes in the future).
Of course, if proofing your own work seems too hard (or you just don’t have the time), you can always call Trish!
21 Responses
I completely agree about the ampersands part you wrote. That’s one of my bug bears and something I was thinking about just the other day as I saw it on a bus advert!
I’m with you on the ampersands. Unless you’re talking about Cobb & Co., or Johnson & Johnson, there really is no need for them. It’s even worse when they’re not used consistently.
Save them for when you’re SMSing.
Oh, no! I’m an avid ampersand-user. When people are scanning a headline or sentence with multiple items in it, ampersands can really help to guide the eye.
I’m a big believer in using symbols wherever they make things easier or faster than the written word would. I love “$” instead of “money” or “dollars”. I also love “+” where the “&” looks too snooty or complex. And, of course, numerals instead of written numbers: “4” is so much quicker to recognize and comprehend than “four”.
That said, yeah, they should be used consistently and only where helpful. Problem is that, outside of long copy, it’s hard to imagine a case where they’re not helpful to the reader. 🙂
A controversial opinion – I love it!
Joanna, I love your enthusiasm for the topic. However, check out these two text grabs.
We agree to sell to you energy & perform our other
obligations. You are required to pay the amount
billed by us & perform your other obligations under this
agreement & the regulations.
We agree to sell to you energy
and perform our other obligations.
You are required to pay the amount
billed by us and perform your other obligations under this
agreement and the regulations.
Have I converted you yet?
I agree with Joanna. I love ampersands and
I’m especially fond of using “+” and numerals instead of numbers (despite what
they taught me in journalism school). I think they can make copy look cleaner
and easier to read. But it does really depend on the tone of the piece you’re
writing. If you’re writing in a casual, personal style I reckon it’s fine to go
crazy with the symbols!
I agree too Denise (and Joanna)… it all depends on the tone and the client but it can mix up the visuals enough to catch your eye.
I think ampersands are OK for headlines if you’re pushed for space. But never in body copy.
Hey Charles. Do you know of any technical minefields using ampersands in headlines? Some punctuation seems to get converted to garbage….
WordPress seems to handle them OK. IMO it’s up to the designer/developer to ensure the html is correct.
Hi, my name is Micky and I’m a closet ampersand lover… 🙂
But I agree with Joanna and Charles. I wouldn’t use ampersands in body copy but yes, I love using them in headings and subheadings where you want people to quickly scan and recognise there are 2 different elements in there. The & gives that quick visual separation.
For HTML tags such as the Title tag, I often use the + sign instead to avoid any possible technical issues. With only about 65 characters available, why waste valuable space writing “and” in there?
Agreed re Title tags Micky.
I’m really curious if there is any research on ampersands and readability.
I did a quick Google search and came up blank.
However, I did find this cool infographic:
http://sixrevisions.com/infographics/visual-guide-ampersand/
In the grammer section it states: “The ampersand’s primary use is in titles, personal greetings, partnerships and firms dealing with law, architecture and stock markets.”
I think using ampersands in body copy is probably more popular with the SMS generation, not with fuddy duddies like me who were taught to write proper in days of yore 😉
I’ll concede to using ampersands and symbols in headers, tweets and other short form or casual messages, but personally I find symbols (aside from numbers) disruptive to the flow of text when I’m reading body content.
It’s almost like having a conversation with someone who uses “jazz hands” to emphasise certain words.
That said, I’m a closet exclamation mark abuser… so continue as you were! (!!!!!!!)
Agreed Anna, it can be off-putting! *jazz hands*
I always proofread by completely changing the font and margins for the text, so it looks fresh. Going from a full A4 page in Arial to three columns in Times really helps the errors leap out.
That’s a great tip Angela!