Proof reading

Having decided to work on my proof reading skills, due to my commitments with ARLIS (Art libraries society). I have started to read up on a few things online and putting them in to practice with some work I am trying to get published. 

Tips I have used:

Print it out- this has been critical for me to be able to read a long document. I personally find reading long documents on screen gives me eye strain. 

Contentrate- which sounds obvious, but working in a busy open office environment that isn't easy. To resolve this, I have needed to find a quiet space to work, which is usually at home after my two year old has gone to bed. No TV and no other distractions. 

Check for punctuation- proof reading is about the information being correct, the spelling being right and the punctuation being accurate. So far I have found that I need to do an inital read of the document, then a second more detailed read through. Taking it slowly, contentrating on each line, making sure the words, phrasing and punctuation is all correct. At the moment I am taking quiet a while to get this right, but I am sure I will speed up. 

Check homonyms- words that are spelt or pronounced the same. These can be tricky, and I have found myself speaking sections out loud, much to the amusement of my husband, to ensure I am getting it right. A good online spoken dictionary can also be useful here. 

The use of apostrophes- again this can be tricky, and it makes you think back to your GCSE English class and what did Miss Christopher teach me about when you use apostrophes. To be fair, I was probably younger than doing my GCSE's but Miss Christopher is the only English teacher that I can remember, possibly because she was amazing. One of those teachers who inspired people to read and love literature. Anyway, the apostrophes are important as they also help make sense of what is being said, but checking them is one of those tricky bits. But proof reading is one of those tasks where the devil is in the detail. 

Get a proof reading buddy- get someone else to read it for you, once you have finished. A collegue of mine wants to write a book and I have offered proof read her work, if she will proof read mine. Seems like a fair swop.

This last tip I tried and it didn't show up any problems, mainly as nothing made sense. The tip was to read the document backwards. It completely confused me and the sentences made no sense what so ever, so I am not sure how this is meant to help. 

My future plans are to continue with proof reading, continue to learn as much as I can and use it both in my role as librarian and with ARLIS.