There are a few things you need to remember before you start
- You are familiar with your content and will read it as you want it to read, not necessarily as it's written
- Proofreaders are trained to catch errors and to know what to look out for
- At the very least you will need to get a friend or family member to read through your content after you have finished, to see if they can catch any further errors
- 'It will do' never does! If you catch an error you must resolve it even if it means rewriting or reworking part of the content
- Proofreading is also about the look and feel of the piece. A beautifully written piece with bad layout or a great idea that is poorly presented will never be taken seriously
- Put enough time aside to finish the job - a trained Proofreader averages 10 pages of 300 words per hour but that depends on the content and the type of proofreading needed
- Take regular breaks to prevent eye-strain or tiredness both of which will affect your concentration.
The first thing you need to do is run the piece through a good spell-checker. If in doubt about any suggested changes, look them up in the relevant dictionary (depending on what language style is being used - Oxford English, American English, dialect, jargon etc.)
Using software like track changes in Word begin to go through your document amending errors as you find them. (Using track changes allows you to go back and see the original if you decide later that you are still not happy with the change).
When you are happy with your change, hit accept all and move to the next stage.
After this is complete and you are happy with the changes, print off the document (unless you are proofing a website or very short content) as it is easier to see mistakes on a hard copy.
Read through the piece (I suggest paragraph by paragraph) aloud. This will give you a good feel for the piece and will help with pacing as well as grammatical errors or realising that another word would work better.
Mark your changes as you go using proofreading marks for brevity and clarity or short notes near the change you wish to make.
When this is complete you will need to transfer your changes to the document.
After this, either print off the document again or send it as a pdf or mobi file to a friend or family member to read through.
If you have come this far, Congratulations! Your document is nearly ready to go.
When you get the document back from your reader, take note of any changes they request and if feasible or necessary, carry them out.
At last! You should be good to go! Well, nearly.
A few more things!
- check all the document formatting
- make sure that any pictures are where they are expected to be and are captioned correctly
- establish that footnotes are referenced correctly
- confirm that references are correct
- ensure that headings and /or subheadings are sized consistently
If this seems like hard work, it is!
Why not contact me for a quote today? info@kimoshea.com
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