Tips for Proofreading

Google every single name (and if it's at all common, add in the name of the school or team to the search).

Use an actual pen or marker to put a check mark next to every number when proofing a page. That means every number. Page numbers on refers and jumps are wrong as often as anything.

 

My biggest issue is on columns. After I'm done, I have to sit it down for an hour (unless it's live on deadline), tune out, then come back and look again.

 

What makes proof-reading a column any different?

 

I guess I'm speaking more in terms of my own columns before sending it on to the desk. More so than a feature or news piece, the column is completely my voice. I know what I'm trying to say, I know my opinion, so when I write it, my brain jumps ahead of my fingers and there are random missing words in sentences. Even when I go back shortly after writing, I don't catch those missing words until I take a break and then they're obvious. I never really have that problem with any other story type.

But even when reading other writer's columns, I'm always a little concerned I'll be changing their voice by doing too many edits.

 

The two best tips I could have have already been mentioned:
1. Do not give the final read immediately after writing it. Your brain still reads what you want it to, not what it needs to. You need to focus on something else for a while (another story with another topic, page design, even Facebook or a game on TV). Then go back and read. I know you don't always have the time to do this, so even if it's just one minute of intense focus elsewhere, it will help.
2. Read it backward. An old editor gave me this tip. Said it was the best way to find typos and sentence structure errors. Mind you I've been in this biz long before most of my colleagues were born, so this was advice given back in the day before spell check. Even our earliest computers that we could type our stories on didn't have spell check. It's a bit I got into back then and one I still use today and that's when I notice a lot of stuff like a bad score, an incorrect ranking, etc...

 

When you actually have time to do this, read the story out loud.

It may feel stupid, but having to actually read copy (especially your own) out loud can help you catch mistakes that, in your mind, read right while proofing.

 

Three tips that have helped me.
1. TAKE YOUR TIME.
2. Recheck everything, even if you THINK you are 100 percent accurate.
3. Be well-rested. Many mistakes are made when you are tired.
Good luck.