Process of Publishing your Document
•Author the text
•Create Index, Bibliography, and Table of Contents
•Copyedit
•Incorporate all the corrections
•Page Lay Out
•Proofread
What to Check while Proofreading
•Check whether all the Corrections done in Copyediting stage were incorporated or not
•Check Misspelled words
•Check Grammar like subject/verb agreement, passive voice, parallelism, etc
•Check Layout and Language (US/UK/Australia/etc) with respect to your style manual
Tips to Proofread Ones Own Document
Authoring a document is one process and proofreading it from reader’s point of view is another. It is a difficult process in total but is not impossible. Tips to proofread your own article follow…
•After you complete the writing part, do not touch the document for the next 24 hours
•Once you start proofreading the document, go through it as if it is written by somebody else
•Always proofread in a hard copy
•Watch for misspelled words, sound similar but different meaning words, awkward sentences structures and sense, etc
•Use proofreading marks to avoid miscommunication
•Check for punctuation
•Try to find typographical errors
Although we are all not professional proofreaders by trade, however, you can learn proofreading if alertness is a part of your attitude. Learning proofreading is easy. To produce professional and polished documents, you need to make proofreading a habit.
Difference between Proofreading and Copyediting
•While doing proofreading one need to check spelling, punctuation, grammar (not in-depth), and check format whether the layout is logical and consistent.
•Copyediting has three levels. They are 1) High; 2) Medium; 3) Light. While doing copyediting one need to check spelling, punctuation, grammar (in-depth), writing style and meaning.
Using Computer…
Nowadays, proofreaders are using computers installed with advanced and sophisticated editors like MS Word, etc. To proofread using MS Word
•Open the word document
•Click on Tools>>Track Changes
o Word enables Track Changes function
Now whatever changes you make to the document, Word marks the deleted as well as inserted parts in different colors so that you can easily understand.
•To avail Word’s assistance to do Spelling and Grammar check, click on Tools>>Spelling and Grammar
•Word points to all the spelling and grammatical errors in your document depending on the settings you selected in Tools>>Options>>Spelling & Grammar
•While proofreading others documents you can comment on particular phrases, symbols, letters, etc, using the Word’s Comment feature.
o To use this option, select the target word for which you want to write a comment and click on Insert>>Comment o Word displays a text panel, where you can write whatever you want, pointing to your selected text.
Common Errors to Watch
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and format-related stuff; for example:
•Apostrophes. There is a lot of difference between its and it’s. The former represents possessiveness whereas the latter is a contraction of “it is”.
•Plurals. Plural of FAQ is not FAQ’s but FAQs; similarly, plural of Book is not Book’s but Books.
•Spellings. Correcting misspelled words like “familier” / familiar
In summary, small typos that miss during Copyediting are supposed to be caught while proofreading. Validate the content and the format against the style manual, what you are supposed to follow, for writing style, meaning, and format logic.
Power Proofreading
You need to…
•Go through the document once and try to understand the content and the context the author is talking about.
•To check misspelled words, start reading the document from the last line toward the first line and also from right to left.
•To check grammatical errors, concentrate on a single sentence every time and check for Subject-Verb agreement, Punctuation, etc.
•To check for style, go through the style guide and validate the given document against the style mentioned therein.
On the whole Proofreading involves an eagle eye for detail and an uncompromising approach towards errors.
Resources:
Payroll Time Clock Software
Time Attendance Software
Human Resource Software (HRIS)
Source: www.articlesphere.com
