Learn to Effectively Proofread - Personal Development Article

By:Jerry Cahill

Proofreading experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of proofreading. Heed their advice to avoid any proofreading surprises.

Proofreading is not an innate ability; it is an acquired skill. The following exercises will help you master it, or at any rate will impress you with how difficult it is. Hints for successful proofreading: Cultivate a healthy sense of doubt. If there are types of errors you know you tend to make, double check for those. Read very slowly. If possible, read out loud. Read one word at a time. Read what is actually on the page, not what you think is there. (This is the most difficult sub-skill to acquire, particularly if you wrote what you are reading).

Proofread more than once. Most errors in written work are made unconsciously. There are two sources of unconscious error: Faulty information from the kinesthetic memory. If you have always misspelled a word like accommodate", you will unthinkingly misspell it again. A split second of inattention. The mind works far faster than the pen or typewriter. It is the unconscious nature of the worst that makes proofreading so difficult. The student who turned in a paper saying, "I like girdle cakes for breakfast" did not have a perverted digestion. He thought he had written "griddle cakes", that's what he "saw" when he proofread. If he had slowed down and read word by word, out loud, he might have caught the error.

You have to doubt every word in order to catch every mistake. Another reason for deliberately slowing down is that when you read normally, you often see only the shells of words -- the first and last few letters, perhaps. You "fix your eyes" on the print only three or four times per line, or less. You take in the words between your fixation points with your peripheral vision, which gets less accurate the farther it is from the point. The average reader can only take in six letters accurately with one fixation. This means you have to fix your eyes on almost every word you have written and do it twice in longer words, in order to proofread accurately. You have to look at the word, not slide over it.

In proofreading, you can take nothing for granted, because unconscious mistakes are so easy to make. It helps to read out loud, because 1) you are forced to slow down and 2) you hear what you are reading as well as seeing it, so you are using two senses. It is often possible to hear a mistake, such as an omitted or repeated word that you have not seen. Professional editors proofread as many as ten times. Publishing houses hire teams of readers to work in pairs, out loud. And still errors occur. When word gets around about your command of proofreading facts, others who need to know about proofreading will start to actively seek you out.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: proofreading, proofread, review, document

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Author Jerry Cahill is also a webmaster and publisher. Some recent works can be seen at this site Proofreading Tips

Top Personal Development Articles
1). What To Do When Your Fears And Worries Overwhelm You By : Stan Popovich What do you do when your worries and anxieties overwhelm you? Here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their worries and anxieties. Sometimes what we fear may happen can be overly exaggerated. A lot of times, our worrying can make the problem even worse. Remember that all the worrying in the world will not change anything.
2). Stuttering And Stammering Speech Impediment By : blueboy Stammering or as it is sometimes known as stuttering is a form of speech impediment. My name is Stephen Hill and I had a stammer for eighteen years. I went to various types of speech therapy which even though was of some use, never really offered me any hope of a "cure". At the age of twenty two, after a lot of hard work I managed to overcome the stammer and I now help other people to achieve fluency.
3). The first 14 dominant laws of the subconscious mind By : Emmanuel Segui Copyright 2006 Emmanuel Segui The subconscious mind is fascinating and intriguing. Yet, it is challenging to understand how it works so you can use its full power solve our problems and enhance every aspect of your life. Here are the difficult principles of the subconscious mind made very easy so you can apply them in your life today and see results tomorrow.
4). Stop Fear Now By : Denton Krypps I'm convinced that fear is one of the worst things in life. Think about all of the negative ways that fear affects your life. Think about all of the decisions you make or do not make because of fear in your life. Or think about the risks that you do not take or the relationships you do not pursue because of fear. You would do well to take a good look at the fears in your life and to attempt to tackle them head first until they are no longer fears.
5). How To Be Assertive Without Getting ANGRY By : Rosella Aranda Sometimes our efforts to show our assertiveness cross the line. We end up coming across as rude, aggressive or downright belligerent.
6). Avoiding Your Persistent Fears Will Not Make Them Go Away By : Stan Popovich Your fears, anxieties, and other problems have the best of you and you don�t know where to turn for help. At some point you feel totally helpless as you struggle each day. What do you do? As a layman and an author of a Managing Fear book, there were times that my fears had the best of me. Through these experiences, there is one thing that I learned.
7). Success After Failure - Even Genghis Khan Lost Some Early Battles By : John Watson Both the worst and the best of the great achievers had the belief in themselves and the resilience to overcome early failures. One of these was none other than Genghis Khan. There are powerful lessons we can learn from him. In 1162 a child, called Temujin, was born in Mongolia clutching a blood clot - a sign that he was destined to be a great warrior.
8). Crisis Management: The Most Basic Of Needs By : Sandy Baker Crisis management is something that every individual needs to consider. Whether you are preparing yourself for a crisis situation or if you are responsible for a school full of children, it is necessary to be prepared. There are excellent resources to help you do this and it also helps to take a good look at your individual situation. There are many types of crisis management situations and we will discuss that here.
9). Being the Mountain By : Judy Ringer As I hiked up the path to the Peaceful Valley Chapel, I relished the quiet of my early morning solitude. After many years as a participant and assistant instructor at Thomas Crum's Journey To Center Program, this beautiful and energizing ten-minute hike had become a personal ritual. Each morning of each Journey to Center week, before our breathing and meditation session at 7, I always hike to the top of this small mountain to be inspired by the view of a much higher mountain range in the distance.
10). What Causes People To Develop A Speech Impediment? By : blueboy I am one of many people who are unfortunate enough to develop a speech impediment in childhood. This article describes why these impediments may occur and how I went about achieving fluency. For the purpose of this article, I concentrate on the speech impediment known as stuttering. There are many reasons why people may develop a stutter, it can be.

New Personal Development Articles
1). Achieve Emotional Freedom By : ian Williamson Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT as it is most commonly known, is probably the most popular of a group of techniques collectively referred to as Energy Psychology (EP)
2). Assertiveness vs Aggression By : Robin Chandler When feelings are bottled up assertiveness can spill over into aggression, leaving the other person feeling attacked rather than reasoned with.
3). Are You Really Making Decisions? By : Garry Zancanaro There is a massive difference between hoping and wishing for success, happiness, self improvement, or that something will change in our lives, and actively deciding to make changes to our lives.
4). Why Self Improvement Is Important - Part 1 By : Garry Zancanaro An alarming percentage of people spend most of what they earn and many also have large debts. They are often no more that a few paydays away from bankruptcy and have little, if anything, put aside for emergencies, much less for a comfortable retirement.
5). Have You Got Your Priorities Right? By : Garry Zancanaro The ability to be able to set priorities and deal with our most important tasks first is an essential skill for making progress towards our goals and achieving results.
6). Dealing With Frustration By : Garry Zancanaro We all suffer from frustration, and being able to effectively deal with frustration is a very important skill to develop. It can be a decisive factor between success and failure.
7). Creative Napping and Other Power Tools - Part 2 By : Angie Dixon Creative Goofing Off, and other power tools, in part 2 of this 3-part series.
8). Quit Smoking with Self Hypnosis By : Gail Metcalf With the help of a self hypnosis program, you can overcome your craving for cigarettes.
9). Creative Napping and Other Power Tools - Part 3 By : Angie Dixon Final article in a series of 3 on creative power tools
10). To Move Forward You Have To Be Able To Bounce Back! By : Garry Zancanaro Successful people are also disappointed and affected by setbacks, and certainly get knocked down more often than most, if only because they try more things. This may happen not once or twice, but dozens or even hundreds of times. But successful people refuse to stay down - because they are resilient and will not be denied their dreams and goals.

� 2006 articles2k.com - Privacy Policy