When #proofreading, don’t try to do everything at once. Check consistency of layout separately from reading for typos, for example – are chapter titles formatted consistently? Are the page margins consistent? What about the styling on graphics or boxes?

Turn pages just to look at these layout issues – you see them more easily when you're not also trying to check the content.

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Proofreading: if a bibliography contains several authors with several references, are they treated the same way? For example, they might be in increasing or decreasing chronological order or in alphabetical order.

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Last week I challenged you to check alphabetisation when #proofreading a bibliography. This week, an even harder task: are entries styled consistently? Are all books treated the same way? Are journal articles treated the same way? What about volume numbers or page ranges? Don't try to do this check at the same time as alphabetisation – there's too much to think about, so for me these are separate tasks.

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It's surprisingly difficult to spot alphabetisation errors when #proofreading a bibliography, so make a point of looking for them.

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Proofreading: these repetitions can easily happen in editing, as a result of accidentally selecting too much or too little text when deleting or inserting text. They can also be easy to miss when reading, because we see what we expect to see. Be on the lookout!

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Proofreading: beware of words that sound right but have the wrong meaning. It's easy to miss them!

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Proofreading: if text contains cross-references such as ‘see section 7’ or 'see page 38', check that they’re still accurate – it’s easy to forget to update them when text gets moved or deleted, so before you publish check for ‘broken links’, so to speak.

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Proofreading: beware of unconsciously assuming contact details must be correct. Are names spelled right? Are email addresses or phone numbers accurate?

Be especially aware of: who's responsible for contact info – it's easy for everyone to assume someone else is checking it

If the info has been rolled forward from last time, has anything changed? It's easy to miss changes in role or people leaving or joining the team

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When #proofreading lists, watch out for consistent punctuation: do lines end with nothing, a full stop or a semi-colon, for example?

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If there are any numbered elements, check each series separately – for example, go through checking that footnotes are numbered sequentially, then go through again checking that tables are numbered sequentially. This reduces the risk of confusion and mistakes.

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Slow down when #proofreading. We tend to recognise words by their overall shape, so you need to force yourself to slow down if you’re to notice when individual letters are mising or duplicaated.

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Slow down on words that have two of the same letter next to each other – the eye often skims over it if there are accidentallly threee of them.

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If there are two errors close together, it’s easy to miss the second because you unconsciously think you’ve ‘done’ that bit of text – so make yourself look again.

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Many people find that hearing their text is a good way to notice missing or incorrect words. You can read it out yourself or use Word’s Read Aloud function. #ThoughtLeadership #ProofreadingTips #CorporateCommunications #proofreading

It’s notoriously hard to spot errors in titles, so check and double-check them. Do they say what they’re supposed to say? #ThoughtLeadership #ProofreadingTips #CorporateCommunications #proofreading

If you’re #proofreading digital text such as a web page or PDF, check the links.

Remember to check that they do actually link to the right place – it's very easy to get into a rhythm clicking a lot of links in a large file, thinking 'yep, that one goes somewhere; yep, that one goes somewhere...' but it takes a bit of concentration to make sure they all go to the right 'somewhere' 😁

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Proofreading: remember to check visuals as well as the text. And if any graphics or numbers changed during editing, make sure you’ve adjusted them everywhere they appear. #ThoughtLeadership #ProofreadingTips #CorporateCommunications #proofreading

It’s hard to tell if narrow letters are missing or duplicated, so whenever you get to a word such as ‘speciality’, ‘versatility’ or ‘arising’, slow down and check it letter by letter. #proofreading #ProofreadingTips #ThoughtLeadership #CorporateCommunications