Clear English

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Clear English

• Proofreading Tips

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Unit learning objectives
Unit learning objectives
By successfully completing this unit, the target
learners will be able to demonstrate knowledge
and understanding to

• Define what proofreading is
• Summarise the benefits of proofreading documents.
• Apply proofreading techniques to documents

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Why should we proofread?

• Have you ever sent an email, written a letter,
  produced a poster and then realised that there's
  a typo, a missed word, incorrect information.
• Yes! ....then this module is for you

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What is proofreading?

• Proofreading can be defined as a method to check
  the text in a written medium to find and fix any
  errors in the wording. (BusinessDictionary.Com)
• The errors can include
• Spelling mistakes
• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Choice of words.

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Why cant we just use a spellchecker?

• Well we should, spell check helps us
• Find wrongly spelt words
• Find repeated occurrences of words
• Spot when a small letter comes before a capital
  letter
• But spell check cannot identify the following
  mistakes
• Typing errors that seem to be correct i.e. form
  instead of from etc.
• Spot mistakes in the grammar i.e. their instead
  of they're
• Identify poor sentence structure

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Proofreading tips

• The following top tips are based on guidance from
  the Plain English Campaign.
• Click here to access the original document.

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Proofreading tip 1

• You need to possess a good understanding
  knowledge of punctuation and grammar before
  starting to proofread.
• You need to know what is correct to spot all the
  mistakes.
• Click on the i icon to find out more information
  on punctuation and grammar.
• Or click on the light bulb to test your knowledge.

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Proofreading tip 2

• Avoid interruptions
• Try to do the proofreading in a quiet environment

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Proofreading tip 3

• Try to read the piece of work out loud.

• This helps identify imperfect sentence structure
  and poor grammar.

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Proofreading tip 4

• Take frequent breaks away from the proofreading
  job

• Only you can identify how long you can maintain
  your concentration when reading.

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Proofreading tip 5

• The style of the document also needs proofreading
  not just the words and punctuation.

• Look out for discrepancies in style and
  formatting
• This includes checking headings, font sizes,
  changes in bullet-point size and style.

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Proofreading tip 6

• Be systematic
• Take one line at a time.
• Use a ruler to guide your eyes so that no lines
  are accidently missed.

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Proofreading tip 7

• Read one word at a time
• Try not to skim the skim the words, try to fix
  your gaze one line at a time

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Proofreading tip 8

• When proofing your own, make sure there is a time
  gap between finishing the document and proofing
  it.

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Proofreading tip 9

• Don't just proofread on the screen.
• Its easy to spot most of the mistakes this way
  and correct them, however there maybe some
  mistakes that you may miss.
• Do a final proofread using a printed hard copy.

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Proofreading tip 10

• Try to get somebody else to do a final proof of
  the document
• An objective third eye helps us spot the mistakes
  that may have been missed.

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Proofreading resources

• Click the icon for a proofreading tips PowerPoint
  
• Click the icon for proofreading tips from IDEA
• Click the icon for proofreading tips from BBC
  Skillswise

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Proofreading assessment

• Time to test your proofreading skills, click on
  the question mark to select your assessment
• Spot the right word
• Proofreading exercise