Writing Lessons & Advice: Proofreading

In my previous lesson, I introduced a recipe for good writing. All that’s needed is a variety of complete sentences expressing common ideas in a logical arrangement, appropriate punctuation, details that paint a clear mental picture, and a generous amount of proofreading.

Proofreading is an important thing to do for the success of your written message. Failing to proofread makes it less presentable, like not icing the cake or not cleaning up the mess in the kitchen after you’ve made your food. Neither situation is popular. Proofreading is in the writer's best interest for several reasons. It is the step where egregious errors in grammar or content are addressed before the publishing step when it might be too late. Unchecked writing could impact an assignment grade, decrease your chances of consideration for a contest or publication, or present an unwanted impression to readers. I could even argue implications in “real-world” or professional settings: Email messages are difficult to understand when they don't follow Standard English and other writing conventions. Applications might be denied because corrections are needed; mail won’t go to the right place if the address given is erroneous; record-keeping won’t be accurate and record-searching won’t be easy if the submitted data has mistakes.

Proofreading makes you slow down and give some attention to detail, but luckily it’s not difficult. A lot of word processors have some degree of proofreading, spell-check, or editorial features that can point out and/or correct many of your mistakes right away. Have you ever been typing and suddenly see a squiggly or colorful line underneath a word or sentence? That’s the program’s proofreading feature showing something is not right.

However, keep in mind that the computer’s or word processor’s tools may not always check or “know” everything. For instance, if the program only has a spelling checker or if that’s the only checker selected, it won’t find grammar or punctuation errors or incorrect homonyms--words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Or non-native words to the default language will be flagged as misspellings. (I ran into this pretty often back when I wrote more about Dancing with the Stars. My checker would underline the names of the pros who came from non-English countries, like Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy from Ukraine or Gleb Savchenko from Russia.)

The point I’m making is that checkers point out errors according to their functions but they may not always correct everything for you or correct it properly. So you might consider reviewing the work multiple times with your own judgment, ask someone else to read over and critique it, or try another “checking” tool/program to help catch other mistakes. (Some common errors to look for will be discussed in a future lesson.)

Here are some of my recommendations for additional proofreading sites/programs/tools:

Note: This is just my subjective list, by the way.

• Tutoring services-either online or in-person; often the best option if you want personalized assistance and connection. Schools/colleges/universities generally have some kind of tutoring program established but there are just as many online services.

• The websites are typically more specialized checking tools. You give it your paper and it reads it over for errors and areas of potential improvement. Some may also check for plagiarism, help in writing citations, or provide instruction on grammar and punctuation.

Grammarly- Grammarly not only checks spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It provides feedback for potential corrections and improvements. Writing can be done right on their website, uploaded to it, or come to you through an app or Google Chrome extension. Grammarly can even save your work. With a subscription, it will check for plagiarism and other qualities.

Hemmingway- Hemingway Editor evaluates writing style. Its a good tool to use to examine the readability of your writing. With color-coded highlights, it points out areas with passive voice, adverbs, and complicated words and sentences and recommends how many to leave or change. You can either copy and paste your writing into the Hemmingway app or write directly into its text box. If you like it, you can pay for an offline version.

Easybib-Easybib is a plagiarism checker as well as a grammar checker. It can help you format your citations and offers learning guides on grammar, formatting styles, and the writing process. A paid subscription may be necessary to make the most of all it offers, but it’s still good for a quick reference or to make a citation.

Again, the rough draft is called the rough draft for a reason. It’s your first run-through of your idea in written form, like a practice or dress rehearsal. It will have bumps to iron out before the big game, show, event, or even submission. So the proofreading step cannot be skipped. Next time you’re at that point, put these recommendations to good use so your best writing foot goes forward in publishing!

If there's a topic you want me to cover in the future, you're welcome to reach out to me on the web chat feature or socials!