Comments on How can I catch more errors when I proofread?
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How can I catch more errors when I proofread?
I have a problem where I often proof my own writing and I don't catch all the errors while I am reading through it. I often miss entire words out of sentences or find myself repeating words. I can read a document several times and I catch new errors every time. Eventually, I'll feel like I've caught everything, but I find out after I've posted or printed it that I left out some word. The whole process takes hours instead of a few minutes. This process is so frustrating that sometimes I just give up. Does anyone have this experience writing and if so, what techniques have you developed that help?
P.S:
For some reason, I make fewer errors and my writing is a lot speedier if I write it out long hand first. For some reason, the word processor makes it hard to keep your train of thought going because you find yourself derailed by the formatting. I also found using NotePad to be a useful tool. Since it doesn't have formatting, it is less distracting. I also set the width of the Window to be very short. For some reason, my thoughts are less likely to get derailed and I make fewer errors.
Edit: I haven't picked an answer because all of these responses are great! I also want to keep the suggestions coming so that others will benefit. Thanks a lot.
I made a proofreading app and I feel your pain. If you are the author, you can't proofread it right because your mind te …
6y ago
I find that most of my mistakes occur at or across line breaks. After your first proof-reading pass, change the margin …
10y ago
I don't know whether you do this or not, but one of the best ways of proofreading I've found is to print out the documen …
11y ago
I think the answer to your specific problem is that there is no simple solution. There is no trick. Reading out loud doe …
12y ago
I just recalled a friend telling me years ago that he witnessed professional proof readers and editors, who work for pub …
12y ago
I thought the obvious answer was this: Have someone else proof your work. No matter how many times I go over my story, …
8y ago
Is it possible for you to practice Ernest Hemingway's advice of leaving some time between writing and proofreading so yo …
10y ago
Use text-to-speech software. It's available on almost every computer nowadays, for free. The advantage of this is that t …
10y ago
Read from the bottom up. It derails the comprehension so it's much easier to see individual words, and you catch many m …
12y ago
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5400. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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