Proofreading is a task most authors don’t enjoy. Proofreading Tips for Authors Part 1 provides seven tips to simplify the process. Part 2 continues the previous post. Proofreading Tips for Authors Part 3 emphasizes techniques that rely on printouts and audio.

Pull up a chair and join me, fellow writer, as you study the following suggestions.

Tip # 8: Make a List

Based on your previous slipups, create a list of common mistakes, and correct them in a separate proofing step.

Partway through, if you discover a new type of error you’ve made several times, bookmark your current spot with something like zzzzz or qqqqq. Search for occurrences of the error and correct them. Then, you can return to your bookmark and continue where you left off. I use zzzzz whenever I want to remember my current position, whether it’s during the first draft, editorial review, or proofreading process.

Tip #9: Once is Never Enough

Proof your work at least twice: once for accuracy of facts, and again for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes.

Tip #10: Beware the Humble Homonym

Homonyms confuse many authors. Should it be here or hear? peek, peak, or pique? peel or peal? Don’t guess.

Tip #11: Know Your Apostrophes

Apostrophes never form plurals. The plural of computer is computers. If you’re talking about several Volkswagens, the correct plural of the abbreviated form is VWs not VW’s.

Apostrophes form contractions. Use them correctly. Should it be your or you’re? Their or they’re? And the big one so many writers get wrong: its or it’s?

Apostrophes also indicate possession. If several people own an object, the apostrophe follows the s: The Barkers’ car went to the shop for repair. If one person owns it, the apostrophe usually precedes the s: Mr. Barker’s car went to the shop for repair.

Tip #12: Eliminate Comma Splices

Comma splices confuse readers:

Jordan listened at the door, he heard heavy breathing on the other side, he didn’t know what to do.

Incorrect. Try:

Jordan listened at the door. He heard heavy breathing on the other side. He didn’t know what to do.

Or replace the commas with semicolons:

Jordan listened at the door; he heard heavy breathing on the other side; he didn’t know what to do.

Tip #13: Eliminate Extraneous Spaces

• Check for spaces between the last word in a sentence and its closing punctuation.
• Replace occurrences of [space] [space] with [space].
• Remove spaces at the end and beginning of paragraphs. (In MS Word, search for [space] ^p and replace with ^p; then search for ^p [space] and replace with ^p.)

Tip #14: Review Capitalization

Things named after people or places generally begin with capitals. Therefore, caesarian section is incorrect. It should be Caesarian section. Our planet is Earth, but dirt is earth.

Tip #15: Your Writing Should Agree with Itself

Check for consistency.

• Do you use goodbye in one place but good-bye in another?
• Or grey in one part of your document and gray somewhere else?
• Or em dashes with surrounding spaces in some sentences but not in others?

Tip #16: Try Reading Your Writing Backwards

Some authors set aside a session to proofread their writing backwards. They say this helps identify errors they would otherwise overlook, such as missing words the brain tries to fill in when they read from left to right.

Tip #17: Examine Every Number

Look for misplaced decimal points, commas, and numerical descriptors. Is the world’s population 6,974 million, or is it 6.974 billion?

Tip #18: Verify Links

Test all links in e-books, including internet URLs and document bookmarks.

Tip #19: Make Sure You Haven’t Created a Problem with Your Edits

If you decide to make an editorial change to a paragraph, read the previous two paragraphs and the following two to ensure you haven’t introduced unnecessary repetition or a break in flow.

You should follow any such changes by an additional proofreading session of the entire document.

Tip #20: Check for Consistency in Formatting

Choose the same font size and weight for all comparable sections.

If you discover a formatting problem you can’t eliminate:

• Use Word’s Clear All style for the offending text (or the equivalent in another word processor), and then reformat.

OR

• Copy and paste the passage into a text file. Delete the words from your main document, copy them from your text file back into their original location, and reformat if required.

Proofreading Tips for Authors Part 1 … Proofreading Tips for Authors Part 3