10 Content Proofreading Tips to Catch More Avoidable Goofs

Good Reads Content
#1

Traditionally, content proofreading is a separate task from editing. And I still treat the two as different activities. However, the...

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://copyblogger.com/content-proofreading/
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#2

Heyy all, here’s a post I think we all need, myself included. Nothing like reviewing a post that’s already marinated and finding typos and mistakes all over the gaff.

Here’s the bullet point summary:

  1. Proofread backwards
    “Proofreading backwards” helps you see your writing with fresh eyes, without first putting it aside for 24 hours.

  2. Stop at every punctuation mark
    Pause at every comma, period, apostrophe, quotation mark, etc. to make sure you’ve used them correctly.

  3. Scan the first word of each paragraph
    If a number of your paragraphs begin with the same word, your writing won’t be as dynamic as it could be.

  4. Verify spellings of people’s names
    Keep a Google search tab open when you proofread and look up the proper spelling of every name in your text.

  5. Verify spellings of company names
    When the name of a proper noun is spelled correctly, your audience takes it for granted.
    However, when a knowledgable reader spots a spelling or letter-case error, it makes an article look sloppy.

  6. Verify spellings of product names

  7. Verify spellings of titles

  8. Verify days, dates, and times of events

  9. Scrutinize hyperlinked text

  10. Spot repeated information

~ end ~

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Enjoyyy

P.S Sometimes a blog might have a pop up which the aggregator picks up instead of the full post. If you notice the post doesn’t match the summary I’ve written, click the link at the bottom of the post.

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#3
#4

Everything here is bible for me! Well, except proof-reading backwards. Will try that with my next copy. Copy goofs are so embarrassing, especially when people DM your errors to you. I realised that the better I got with copy, the more detail-oriented I became.

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#5

I know this is one of my flaws. I am in such a hurry to tick things off my todo I don’t stop to check.

I guess a second part to it would be giving myself a manageable schedule.

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#6

This! Especially since writing is very draining and you just want to move on to other tasks. Well, I’ve learnt that publishing excellent work is more important than ticking off my to-do list (no matter how tiring it is).

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#7

I’m going to use this as my motivator

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