Proof Reading- Any Hints

thetruthsback

Hi All,

Any tips for proof reading? Feck, no matter how often I read an original piece of work, I never spot the glaring errors. I have tried double spacing, picking out repeat mistakes and making lists of common errors. Any hints.

EileenG

Print it out, double spaced on paper, and then read it aloud. That catches a lot of mistakes. I'm told that printing in a different colour can show up mistakes as well.

Sometimes you just have to let someone else take a look at it.

Manach

Leave it a day. Do something else and you'll come back to your work with a fresh perspective.

pickarooney

Your brain becomes conditioned to seeing what it expects rather than what is actually there, so some glaring errors will remain undetected on repeated reading. Getting someone else to do it is usually the best idea.

thetruthsback

cheers

pauline fayne

proofread it backwards and then forwards . You normally catch more of the spelling errors that way .

bigsmokewriting

Backwards reading is a good one. Also be realistic about the amount of distance you leave between finishing something and proofreading it - if you can leave something for a few days or a week, it can show up a lot more of the errors than a few hours or a day.

north.

Its always best to give someone to read your writings to check for errors, because you'll never be able to find your errors!
Game of nature!

thetruthsback

cheers guys and other handy tips?

EileenG

Upload your story to www.wattpad.com and then download it to your phone (and delete from wattpad). Read it on your phone. For some reason, mistakes jump out at you this way, perhaps because you can't skim.