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Proofreading tipsThese tips come from the specialists who run our Editing and Proofreading workshop. Come on our Editing and Proofreading workshop for more tips
Check:
Check the table of contents against the textIf you extract an automatic table of contents, check that it has been updated to take in any changes.
If you are working with a manual table of contents, make sure that:
Check all headers and footersCheck for:
Check double consonants and vowelsIt’s easy to read what you think is there, not what is really there. Check words with double consonants and vowels. A series of thin letters can be especially difficult to find errors in (such as ‘illustrate’). Check thin-letter words carefully.
Check all footnotes and endnotesAre footnotes and endnotes mentioned in the text? Are they numbered consecutively?
Check all numbersDouble-check the numbering in a document. This includes numbered headings, tables and figures.
Check punctuation pairsPay attention to punctuation pairs, such as brackets, dashes, and quotation marks. Often, the first one will be there, but the second one will be missing.
Check placeholdersPlaceholders such as ‘XXX’ are often used when information is to be filled in later. Check that final versions are complete.
Check block capitals, italics and tight spacingSome text styles make proofreading much harder. Be especially careful when proofreading block capitals, italics and tightly spaced text.
Check en and em dashesIt’s easy to get en and em dashes mixed up — make sure they are used correctly. And be consistent about whether or not you have a space before and after the dash.
Check that lists are parallelRead the stem sentence, then read each bulleted point. You should have a complete sentence every time.
The stem should start a sentence:
Avoid proofreading your own writingWe tend to be much less effective at proofreading our own work, especially if we have just written it. Wherever possible, get someone else to proofread your own writing.
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