Proofreading

Proofreading is the step between editing your final draft and publication, and is where we find and fix any typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors.

Usually, when we are trying to get something done, perfection is neither a reasonable nor a practical goal. However, with proofreading, perfection absolutely is the goal.

It is easy to assume that having a single typo, a small spelling mistake, or a common grammatical error really doesn't matter, as we all make mistakes, and reasonable people will forgive mistakes. Generally, this would be true, but in the business world, people tend to be entirely unforgiving of typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors in professional documents.

For example, let us consider a situation where you are evaluating resumes for two candidates for the same job. Both resumes have nearly identical skillsets, experiences, and education, resulting in both being equally qualified. You then notice that one resume has a spelling error, whereas the other is perfect. Which candidate would you be more likely to hire?

For most hiring managers, the candidate with the perfect resume will be considered a better choice - all else being equal. The reason for this is that with a single spelling mistake, the candidate with the imperfect resume has proven that they have a lack of attention to detail.

Attention to detail points to a personality trait called, "conscientiousness," which is a highly desirable trait in an employee. The more conscientious someone is, the more organized they are, the harder they tend to work, and the more they can be trusted to get things done well, and done on time.

With nothing more than a single spelling mistake, the candidate with the imperfect resume has demonstrated that they will be less organized, will not work as hard, cannot be as trusted to get things done, and if they do get something done, they will be less likely to get it done on time.

In the example of a resume, the necessity of producing a perfect, error-free document is generally well understood, as losing out on a fantastic job because of a single spelling error would be a tragedy. As a result, before someone applies for a job they typically spend a lot of time proofreading to make sure their resume is free of any errors.

Though this is well understood when it comes to resumes, what is not as well understood is that perfection is the standard expected of every document produced by a professional. Though the consequences of producing business documents with errors are not as consequential as missing out on a job opportunity, it will still demonstrate a lack of attention to detail, which in turn demonstrates a lower level of conscientiousness, which in turn signals that you are not well organized, may not work as hard as your error-free peers, and might not be trustworthy in getting things done, or done on time.

The sobering conclusion we should reach, therefore, is that we should proofread every document we produce as if it were a resume.

Fortunately, the error checking software built into most modern document editors can catch the majority of the most egregious errors.

For example, modern editing software will most likely catch misuses of Your (Y-O-U-R) vs. You're (Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E); To (T-O) vs. Too (T-O-O); and Loose (L-O-O-S-E) vs. Lose (L-O-S-E).

The flipside of this wonderful technology is that since everyone has access to modern editing software, there is far less tolerance for misusing Your and To, as well as writing that someone has loosened the game when you wanted to convey that someone lost the game.

Where error checking software can get things wrong is when a word is spelt correctly, and its grammatical usage is correct, but it is obviously not the word the author intended. Examples are using abject instead of object, adapt instead of adopt, and principle instead of principal. These words have only slight spelling differences, but mean very different things, and can easily slip past an automatic spelling and grammatical checker.

In light of the fact that proofreading software is not perfect - and that anything less than perfection is unacceptable - manual, meticulous human proofreading is usually necessary to produce an error-free document.

After you have gotten your final draft approved, and after you have made sure that you have corrected all of the errors found by your editor's spelling and grammar checkers, you now have to find any errors that remain. Your attitude should be, "There are probably still errors that I need to find," and not, "There are probably no errors so it should be fine." Depending on the length of the document, if all you have used to proofread your writing is the tools built into your editor, there will probably still be at least one error that you will need to hunt for.

One of the best approaches for finding a typo, spelling mistake, or grammatical error is to ask a colleague who is known for having an immaculate attention to detail to proofread your work. You must be careful, however, to not wait until the very last minute before a deadline to ask for someone's help, as proofreading a document carefully can take a lot of time and concentration, and it would not be fair to ask someone to proofread your document late in the evening when the deadline is tomorrow morning.

If you cannot find a colleague with an immaculate attention to detail, then just about any other colleague would still be useful. When we read our own work, our brain has a tendency to read what we intended to write, and not what we actually wrote down. When someone else reads our work, they don't have any expectations as to what you were trying to say, and instead read each word as you have written it, allowing them to catch errors you may not have noticed.

If all else fails, and you don't have the opportunity to rely on a colleague as a proofreader, then it will be up to you to catch your own errors. In this case, one of your better options is to read what you wrote out loud to yourself, which will force you to slow down as you pronounce each word, which increases your chances of catching something that you might miss while reading your work in silence.

Perfection is not too high a bar when it comes to proofreading your documents. A document with a single mistake demonstrates that you lack attention to detail, whereas a perfect, error-free document creates a seamless reading experience for your audience, as well as represents you in the best possible light as a conscientious professional.