ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

7 Proofreading Tips - How to Proofread Your Own Writing

Updated on December 23, 2014
Seriously? Nobody proofread the sign?
Seriously? Nobody proofread the sign? | Source

Are you good at proofreading your own writing?

As an English teacher, not to mention someone who loves language and grammar, I am often asked to proofread for people--papers, memos, letters, you name it. The variety of errors I see are wide and numerous. Some people are better than others at proofreading their own writing. Sometimes when I'm proofreading, I wonder if the person even read over what was written before passing the document on to me to catch everything.

Whether you're already good at proofreading your own work or you need improvement with this skill, I think we could all brush up with some reminders of what to look for when proofreading.


1. Use Spell Check and Grammar Check.

Using spell check, and grammar check, if your software program includes it, is a basic part of Proofreading 101. If you're using Microsoft Word, don't ignore those red underlines that tell you the word is misspelled...or the green lines that tell you there's a problem with the grammar.

Look at suggested spellings. Play around with the sentence structure until the grammar is correct. But remember that spelling and grammar checks don't catch everything. Using those helpful features is only the beginning of doing a good proofreading job.

2. Read Your Writing Aloud.

To my students, I often suggest that they read their writing aloud. For things like awkward wording or omitted words, reading a paper out loud is a great way to catch mistakes. Explaining what is wrong with an awkward sentence can be difficult to express to a writer. Reading the sentence or phrasing aloud often reveals to the student what is wrong. He or she can hear that the sentence sounds funny. Omitted words, too, are easily noticed when the writer reads the sentence and hears that something is missing.

3. Look Up Words When In Doubt

If you are unsure about the spelling of a word, look it up. Use a print dictionary or use an online dictionary, such as dictionary.com. In addition, be extra careful about homophones, or words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Your spell check won't notice the difference if the word is spelled correctly, and grammar check doesn't often pick these errors up either. So look these words up if you need to in order to make sure of the way they are used.

Homophones include words such as their/they're/there, to/too, your/you're, be/bee, here/hear, pear/pair, bear/bare, and many, many more. Read carefully to try to catch these and other words that are misused.

4. Review Your Grammar Skills

If you just aren't very good at grammar, at spelling, or punctuation, then do what you can to brush up on it. Grab a grammar handbook that covers the basics.

Review the areas you don't know well, whether it's punctuation, verb tenses, or commonly confused words. If you don't know the difference between "to" and "too," then learn it!

The comma is one of the most misused punctuation marks. If you're clueless on commas, learn when you're supposed to use them or leave them out. Or at least have a reference book where you can look things up when you need to know.

5. Go Back to Your Work Later

Setting your writing aside and going back to it later is an excellent way to catch errors. I do this all the time. I have never turned in a paper in college or submitted an article on HubPages without going back to it several times, usually over the course of several days. After looking at something over and over, I find that I can read it no more and have to put it aside. That's when I know that I'm not even really taking in what I'm reading. Coming back to my writing fresh, I often catch errors I didn't see before, in addition to finding that my creative abilities have returned, making major revisions easier, too.

6. Print It Out

With papers I've written in the past, I have always printed them off the computer in order to read and review them. I don't know about you, but I find it much easier to process what I've written on paper rather than on a screen.

When the document requires concentration and attention, and needs a lot of revising and editing, printing it out is especially helpful. Try printing out your work to proofread, writing in corrections and changes, then adding in the changes on the electronic document.

7. Let Someone Else Read It

Finally, let's face it. If you are really horrible at proofreading and have done all you can to improve your writing, you may have to ask someone to read over it for you. You may have a friend you can ask who is good at proofreading. Just make sure you proofread and correct all you can first before unloading your work onto someone else. Finally, if you have a document that requires perfection, you may have to consider a professional proofreader.

If you haven't had much success with proofreading your own work in the past, try these tips to see if you can improve your skills.

______________________________

#18/30
#18/30 | Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)