Whether you are writing for business or pleasure, it is always good to have someone proofread your own work. After all, what you write is a reflection upon how you think. And misspelled words or typographical errors will not just make you look bad, but they will hinder your ability to communicate.
You can use spelling and grammar checks, but they don’t catch everything, which is why it is good if you can have somebody else read your work. So what can you do when you need to send out an article or a business letter, but you are not able to get somebody else to review what you have written? Here are some tips on how to proofread your own work:
Read your work aloud
You may feel a little silly at first reading your own writing, but it is a great way to discover if you have made any errors. There are several reasons why reading aloud is a good idea. The first is that you may not realize this, but your brain often automatically fills in missing words when you read them. Saying the words out loud will help you catch such things.
In addition, when you read your work out loud, you may also notice things like repetitive phrases, overwrought prose, and logical flaws. You can also get a sense of whether what you are writing is understandable, especially if you read it to a friend. But you don’t need to read to others in order for this method to work. You can talk to yourself and still get a benefit out of it.
Take a day or so to read your writing
If you can have some time in between writing and proofreading your work, it can help you find mistakes. Just a little bit of time may help you look at your writing with a fresh mind, and you may see mistakes you might not have caught the first time around.
Print out what you wrote
Going from reading your article on the computer to reading a hard copy of it can help you find mistakes. Seeing your writing in a printed format can potentially help you discover errors in your work. There is something to be said about reading something on the printed page.
So why not give one or more of these tips a try? You could see the quality of your work improve. Click here for more ideas on how to improve your work.