#12: How should I approach editing and proofreading?

In this post, I would like to take you a couple of steps back in the writing process to talk about editing and proofreading.

Why edit and proofread?
While a senior writer or an editor will edit your work before it is submitted to the client, it is equally important for you to learn and hone editing and proofreading skills. Editing or proofreading in a systematic approach:

• - Allows you to pick up and correct overlooked language errors;
• - Gives you the opportunities to revise, reorganize and polish your work;
• - Enables you to improve the readability of your article;
• - Ensures that your work is consistent and accurate, which reflects your professionalism.

When you are sharpened with these skills, you will be able to:

• - Check your own work, ensuring that it is as ‘perfect’ as you could make it before it land on your editor’s table. Note that it is not your editor’s job* to ‘rewrite’ a disorganized and unsatisfactory article produced by you.
• - Proofread the final layout (i.e. text arranged pages with visual elements) of the bulletin or newsletter, usually at the last stage of the project, i.e. before it is sent for printing.
• - Help edit and proofread the work of your fellow writers’ when necessary (e.g. when the editor in chief is not around).

*I will write a separate post regarding the responsibilities of an editor.

Below are some useful editing and proofreading tips for you.

Editing

• - Make sure the most important points for the client’s brief are incorporated and the purpose of the article is fulfilled.
• - Check if draft conforms to word count, figures and tables and any other specifications predetermined in the project brief.
• - Reorganize the article if necessary. Certain key ideas might be clearer if they are listed in bulleted points or in the form of a table.
• - Watch out for errors that commonly occur in data and p values, tables and figures (e.g. whether the right ones are used, if figure is referenced correctly, whether labels and axis are correct), spelling of medical terms, units, etc.

Proofreading

• - The computer spelling checker can help find certain types of mistakes (e.g. spelling error), but it will not pick up mistakes with homonyms (e.g. “they’re”, “their”, “there”) or certain typos (like “he” for “the”). Therefore, it’s sometimes proofread from a printout after a computer spell checked is performed.
• - Use an opaque ruler or a blank sheet of paper to cover up the lines below the one you’re reading. This technique helps you to focus on what you’re reading and prevent you from skipping ahead of possible errors.
• - Check separately for each kind of error, moving from the most to the least important, from technical details to consistency. You can prepare a checklist and use it every time you proofread.
• - Create a list of common errors you may make and be more meticulous in proofing these errors, such as capitalizations, abbreviations, general spelling (British vs American spellings), grammar (past vs present tenses) and repetition.

Nobody is born a good editor or proofreader, but the skills can be developed over time with practice, and more practice.