As a Technical Writer with a fair amount of experience creating, editing and proofreading documents, I am frequently asked what methods I use to make sure that I have thoroughly proofed a document. Is it a skill that I can learn? Do you have to have special training in it?
My answer is simple: you just have to be able to recognize mistakes and know what it takes to fix them. I have to admit, though, that part of my proofreading skill is a natural thing, something I was born with (perhaps something I was cursed with). For instance, I see an overhead or slide on the screen at church and know immediately that the slide preparer didn't proof his or her work. Then if it stays on the screen for some time, I can't let it go and realize that some people just make mistakes. It wasn't intentional or done to drive me nuts, though you couldn't convince me of that. So part of the skill is noticing obvious mistakes; part of it is trying to be as thorough as you can.
The first thing I do when I proof a document is to run a spell check on the document. It should also be the last thing that a writer must do before sending the document out. That would be the very least thing a writer should do. If you don't have an electronic version, it's difficult to do this...obviously. An electronic spell checker will not catch everything in context but it certainly is a good place to start.
Next thing I do is to read the document all the way through to catch the obvious mistakes. What do I mean by "obvious?" An obvious mistake to me is something that is grossly misspelled or an entire word omitted. For instance, “'expereance' has shown me....” the incorrect spelling of the word "expereance" should have jumped off the page. Seeing this word early in the document could be an indicator of what you might expect in the remaining paragraphs. That's not a typo, per se, it's ignorance of the correct spelling.
The next and last thing I do when I proofread is to find a quiet place to read the document out loud. I have found that when I read a document out loud, I can catch more mistakes than if I were to read it silently. I tend to graze over words when I read it to myself. If you are a native English speaker, you will catch gaffes in context that you would overlooked had you been reading it only with your eyes. (In case you missed it, I intentionally omitted a word in that last sentence to prove a point because most of you are reading this silently).
When you have plenty of time, it is much easier to proofread a document. It's much easier to be careful when you are not under time constraints. In the business world, “plenty of time” is a nice luxury to dream about. You may be asked to proof a document merely because you are the nearest warm body to the writer. You can do it if you just take your time and read every word carefully.
You're not going to catch every mistake in a document using these techniques. However, you increase the odds of finding them when you do.
Good Lock.
