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countrigal
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« on: April 24, 2003, 08:18:01 pm » |
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A good tip for proofing your own work is to do a paper (or letter or whatever) and go through and mark your errors. Then hand that to someone else who is good at proofing and see what they find. Most of the time, we are creatures of habit and make the same mistakes over and over and don't recognize these ourselves as we have it correct in our head. Once you get the paper back from the other person, make a list of the mistakes s/he found and the next time, proof it as you would and then go back over and look specifically for those mistakes off that list. Another suggestion is to read it outloud while proofing, and follow it by then proofing it backwards, one word at a time.
The one thing to remember is that no one is perfect. You might catch 95% of the errors, but a fresh set of eyes could pick up the 5% you missed and make you feel like you hadn't tried hard enough. The more you look at something, the less likely you are to find the mistakes. Cut yourself some slack if this is the situation you are finding yourself in. Another hint would be to set up a system with another admin/co-worker where you proof each other's work just before it gets submitted. We've implemented that in my office here and it has worked extremely well. I shoot it to her electronically, she reads it, makes suggestions on corrections, sends it back to me and I can review it/correct it and submit it. Most of the time, if it's only a page or 2 document, it doesn't take long to proof so you're not slowing the other person down too much and you return the favor when she/he needs an extra set of eyes.
The only other hint to give would be to look into taking a college class or somesuch. I know English Comp II at my college basically was a proofing-type class. We wrote papers, reviewed grammar, and refreshed ourselves on proofing. Even I found myself picking up some things I had forgotten since HS. Some colleges actually offer classes on writing and proofing specifically and those might be beneficial for you to feel more confident in your proofing skills.
No matter what, hang in there. We're always our own worst critic.
CountriGal
Peer Moderator
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