Tip of the month from PRC
September 1998 
Proofreading & editing tips

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Minor amendments 21 Jan. '99
Uploaded 3 September 1998 

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Tip of the month is edited by Peter Ring, PRC (Peter Ring Consultants, Denmark)
- consultants on how to write user friendly manuals

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If you have corrections, better texts or suggestions for improvements, please let me know. 

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The original tips list was collected by Douglas M. Max, Managing Director, LR Communication Systems, Inc., 139 Dogwood Lane, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922-0264 USA, http://www.LRcom.com , and published on the TECHWR-L mailing list on 10 August 1998. Richard Danca added further good points on the TECHWR-L. I have grouped the answers, made some editorial changes, and added some new points. 

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General

• Use the proofing tools in your text editing programme, e.g. "Changes" or "Annotations".
• In the world of editing the difference between proofreaders, copyeditors, and substantive editors are rarely distinguished. There are items - also on this list - which are in the gray-zone between proofreading and editing. Make sure the gap is closed.
• Spend a half-hour a month reviewing grammar rules.

Proofing

• Use spell checker and grammar checker as a first "screening," but don't depend on it.
• Read it out loud.
• Read it silently.
• Read it backward to focus on the spelling of words.
• Read it upside down to focus on typology.
• Read slowly.
• Use a "screen" (a blank sheet of paper to cover the material not yet proofed) = hold a blank sheet of paper up to the line you're.
• Use your finger to read one word at a time.
• Double-check proper names.
• Double-check little words: "or" and "of"; "it" and "is" are not interchangeable.
• Don't proof for every type of mistake at once - do one proof for spelling, another for missing/additional spaces, consistency of word usage, font sizes, etc.
• Have others read it.
• Keep a list of your (or the writers' you are proofing) most common errors and proof for those on separate "trips."
• You can't proof properly, what you have just written yourself. When you try to do that, you have a tendency to read from your "internal brain screen" instead of the written text. If you have to proof your own text, wait at least a couple of days, the longer time the better.
• Read something else between edits. You clear your head of what you expect to read and really read what is on the page.
• Give a copy of the document to another person and keep a copy yourself. Take turns reading it out loud to each other; while one of you reads, the other one follows along. You'll catch any errors and awkward-sounding phrases - this method also works well when proofing numbers and codes.
• First proof the body text. Then go back over and proof the headings. Headings are usually the most error prone because copy editors usually don't catch them. Double check headlines and font that is unusual (italic, bold, or otherwise different).
• Be careful that your eyes don't skip from one error to the next obvious error, missing subtle errors in-between.
• Don't use fluorescent lighting when proofing. The flicker rate is actually slower than standard lighting. Your eyes can't pick up inconsistencies as easily under fluorescent lighting.
• Listen to music or chew gum. Proofing can be boring business and it doesn't require much critical thinking; though it does require extreme focus and concentration. Anything that can relieve your mind of some of the pressure while allowing you to still keep focus is a benefit.
• Generally, the editing world defines proofing as a very low-level edit, meaning transposed words, typos, a missed period, etc. generally a proofreader does not edit for content.
• You also can read down columns in a table - even if you're supposed to read across the chart to use the info, you don't have to proof it that way, columns of stuff may be easier to deal with than rows.
• Double check boilerplate text like the company letterhead, just because it's frequently used, doesn't mean it's been carefully checked.
• Double check whenever you're sure something is right - certainty is dangerous.
• Carefully read the mouse-type: text set at 6-point or less is where I've most often found errors that previous proof-readers missed.
• Look closely at the page numbers and other footer/header/folio material. These often don't change when they should (new sections, new chapters) and are too easy to overlook. They also sometimes get out of sequence.
• Are the illustrations right-side up? It's awfully easy to skip past a Chinese pictograph or a molecular model that's been flipped.
• When reading aloud, pronounce words the way they're supposed to *look*. (Sorry, I can't think of any right now, but they include words where it sounds like a z -- but is spelled with a s.)
• Use a different-coloured pen to check off the corrections marked in the earlier version that you've made in the latest version. This helps force you to make *all* the corrections.

Editing

• Write at the end of the day; edit first thing in the morning. (Usually, getting some sleep in-between helps.)
• Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, how when reading for content. Did you cover all the ones you thought you would?
• Highlight the sentences that best answer these questions just so you can see if they flow in logical order.
• Do the math, do the math, and then do the math again. Somewhere between the screen and the printer 2+2 becomes 3.
• If writing & editing the same document online ...
• Change the text colour when editing to give it a different look and to force you to read the words.
• Print it out and read it.
• Editor's flags. Put ## in the document in areas where reviewers need to pay special attention, or next to items that need to be double-checked before the final proof print. Do a final search for all "##" and remove them.
• Make a list of "bugaboo" words, and do a search for them before final proof. Include every swear word, words related to product terminology, and other words that pop up on occasion. Then do a "find" for all these words.
• Do every step in procedures.
• Check that procedures are described using imperative mode, numbered steps if sequential, bullets for choices, etc.
• Control the document against a standard "list of contents" checklist.
• Check the readability index.
• Check all numbers and units: is it according to the manuscript -- is the order of magnitude reasonable - is the unit correct, or is there a "knots per hour" type of error. (FYI: 1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour.)
• Check all references like "see page xx," "see table xx" or "see fig. xx".
• Are table and figure numbers sequential and without unused numbers?
• Make a list of things to watch for, a kind of to do list, as you edit.
• Count the number of steps a list promises.

If you disagree with these ideas - or have other relevant points, experiences, or ideas +/-, please e-mail me !

Ideas for new "Tip of the month" subjects are very welcome, too!

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