Proofreading your way to quality products

by Lynnette Reveling

In the January 2003 Intercom, Thomas Barker talked about quality in his article "Consulting: Keeping Up in a Down Economy":

When capital dries up, businesses tend to fund known and trusted ventures rather than innovative or less-known ones. So it's customer service, guaranteed return, and efficiency that sell during a recession.

What it means in our business is that to improve efficiency and avoid layoffs, we need top quality in customer service, which will avoid return questions and complaints. Working with our writers who correspond with our clients, I teach proofing and editing techniques to help make our client communications as succinct and error-free as possible. Recently, I created the following Job Aid to give our writers some guidelines and tips that can be used to proofread and edit.

Job Aid: Proofreading and Editing

Proofreading is examination of a document to find errors that should be corrected. Proofreading tasks range from checking to see that nothing was omitted to checking for consistency in format. Here are types of proofreading:

• Verification proofreading—comparing final copy with previous draft.
• Partnership proofreading—the author reads aloud from the draft as a second person verifies the final copy. This is the best method for proofreading statistical and technical documents.
• Proofreading on a computer screen—similar to printed copy: use various tools to assist you.
• Proofreading without an original document—most difficult: check content word for word.

Editing involves revising a document to make it more effective.

WHOOPS!

An official for a convention center in a midwestern city was demoted as the result of overlooking an error in a letter he proofread. The official failed to notice that a football game was mistakenly scheduled for the same date that a convention was to take place. As a result, the convention was moved to another city, resulting in a loss of at least $10 million those convention attendees would have spent. The official who overlooked the error was reassigned to another job and took a 10 percent cut in pay. Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Proofreading - Check keyboarding errors

• Misstrokes: "from" instead of "form"
• Omissions: "unit" vs. "unite, " "soon possible" vs. "soon as possible"
• Repetitions: "the the Web" vs. "the Web"

Proofreading - Names, addresses, and telephone numbers

• Check the spelling of each part of a person's name (first, middle, and last) and check any initials.
• Carefully check the spelling of unusual or unfamiliar names.
• Verify possible alternate spellings of names (Stephen or Steven, Catherine or Katherine).
• Check courtesy titles so that you use the appropriate one: Mr., Ms., Miss, Mrs., or Dr.
• Check each keystroke when verifying addresses.
• Check for errors at the end of words and within numbers. Errors frequently occur in these places.
• Check each part of an address to make sure every detail is correct.
• Make sure the last line of an address includes only the city, state, and zip code. For international addresses, make sure the country name appears by itself on the last line of the address.
• Read each telephone number in parts (e.g., read the number 919-555-8321 in three parts: "nine-one-nine, five-five-five, eight-three-two-one").
• Check all numbers as a separate proofreading step.
• Make sure that numbers have the appropriate number of digits. For example, Social Security numbers have nine digits separated by hyphens. North American phone numbers have ten digits in this pattern: 000-000-0000.

Proofreading - Omissions and Repetitions

Spell checkers or grammar checkers do not usually catch omission errors. While most spell checkers will highlight repetitions of letters that result in misspelled words, and highlight repetitions of single words or of numbers, they usually will not highlight repeated segments of words or numbers (e.g., "Turn to page 2 turn to page 2."). You need to be alert when you proofread.

• Look for omission and repetition errors especially at the beginning and end of words and sentences.
• Look for omission and repetition errors with vowels.
• Read for accuracy and for meaning.

Proofreading - Transpositions and Spacing Errors

When you proofread a hard copy of a document, you can spot transpositions by reading word for word and letter for letter. If you proofread on the computer, the spell checker usually will detect transpositions that result in misspelled words. However, a spell checker will not detect transpositions that spell actual words (e.g., "We ordered the software for a 30-day free trail").

Some other examples:
"you daughter's accounts" vs. " your daughter's accounts"
"youraddress" vs. "your address"
"shortterm" vs. "short term"

• Take time when using the spell checker to verify spelling. Make sure you look to see if the spell checker suggests any alternative words or spellings that may be better suited to your document.
• Proofread backward (from right to left) to make transpositions more obvious.
• Look for transpositions in short words and at the ends of words.
• Watch for transpositions of vowels, especially the letters i and e.

Tips for Proofreading on the Computer Screen

Proofread the document on the screen before printing it. Use the proofreading method or combination of methods that works best for you:

• Scroll through the document and proofread line by line as each line appears at the bottom of the screen.
• Move the cursor through the document, and check each word and number as you come to it.
• Run the spell checker.
• Make corrections or changes and save the corrected document.
• Print the document and proofread it.
• If additional errors are found, make the corrections and save the corrected document.