Top tips for editing and proofing

Proofing and editing might not sound like the most critical part of communication, but it’s the final check on whether or not you’re going to get the outcome you want. Not only that, but a poorly edited and proofed piece of communication reflects on your professional brand, and we know people get distracted by typos and mistakes. 

But whether you’re a gun proof reader or you’re new to the game, there are things everyone can do to make sure your communication hits the mark. Here’s our top tips for proofing and editing.

Paper or digital?

Do you proof read better with paper and pen, or with tracked changes in a digital format? What’s the preference of the person who is reviewing the document for you? Knowing your preference - and the preference of others - is the first step in becoming a better editor. If you like the red pen, use it!

Check structure and formatting

Start with the high-level structure of the document - does it flow in a logical sequence? Often, after a lot of people have been through a document (or you’ve overthought it!), content can get mixed up and no longer be structured thoughtfully.

While you’re at it, do a scan of your formatting - are all your heading styles in order? Are your bullet-point lists all formatted in a similar way? What about those page numbers, headers and footers? 

Check spelling, grammar, punctuation and style

A quick run of your spell check should pick up most spelling, grammar and punctuation errors - but not all! Make sure you carefully check for these issues - remember, people get distracted by simple mistakes. When it comes to spelling, particularly check people’s names, and the names of places and businesses. 

Every business also has its own writing style (see our article on what you should have in your writing style guide). Does your document align with that style? This typically relates to things like how you talk about your business, people and customers; how you write and capitalise role titles and the names of programs and projects; and your preferred way of talking about particular groups of people, products and services.

Take a break

Have you ever gone back and read a report or an assignment you submitted a few weeks earlier, and noticed an extremely obvious mistake? That’s the benefit of time! Once you start to become less familiar with your content, your brain stops tricking you into reading what you expect to see, rather than what’s actually there. So before you hit ‘send’ on that email, give yourself a bit of a break, then come back and check it again.

Read it out loud

Will you sound ridiculous? Only to people who don’t know the benefit of this technique! When we read a written communication out loud, that’s when we notice obvious mistakes, but also when a sentence is too long or wordy, or if something doesn’t make sense.

Read it backwards

We’re not asking you to read a word back-to-front! Rather, start with reading your last paragraph, then your second-last, and so forth. Why does this work? Because you won’t get caught up in the story or flow of the communication and you can solely focus on the technical errors in the writing, like punctuation, spelling or sentence structure.

Apply critical thinking

Go back to your original goal - what was the outcome you wanted to achieve with this communication? If you put your ‘audience hat’ on, do you think you have achieved that goal - why or why not? What could be missing? Does the tone hit the mark? 

Ask somebody else to read your copy

This step is so critical, particularly if you’re talking about a specific project or initiative. When we communicate about something we’re very involved in, we do so with ‘the curse of knowledge’. It means it makes sense to us because we know the subject matter implicitly; but your audience doesn’t have the same context or knowledge. So ask someone who is not as close to the work to read your copy - does it make sense to them? Is there jargon that needs to be explained? Is it clear on what they need to know or do differently? This second set of eyes is your best line of defence against poor communication!