How to edit and proofread your own work

How to edit and proofread your own work 

Whether because we want to, or because we have to, many of us need good strategies for proofreading our own work; either something we translated, or something we wrote from scratch. I’m not a naturally gifted editor. In a way, this is an advantage, because I’ve had to develop robust techniques that work well for me! Let’s take a look. 

First question: How does your brain work, and what do you need help with? 

Before you dig into this question, pause and ask yourself two questions:

• How does my brain work? Do I catch mistakes and weird phrasings more easily when I read them on a screen, when I read them on paper, or when I hear them?
• What do I need help with? Case in point: if I don’t edit my writing, I’m repetitive and wordy (Department of Redundancy Department). Knowing this helps me identify what needs cutting and what needs some spice. 

Knowing these things is a huge first step. We tend to assume that everyone’s brain works the way ours does, and that would make for a pretty monotonous world. Brains are different. When I recently posted on LinkedIn about my passion for text-to-speech proofreading (having the computer read the document to you out loud), several people chimed in that this doesn’t work for them. “I just tune out and miss errors!” Whereas the opposite is true for me: when I visually proofread, I start skimming, and I miss errors. So, step one, figure out what works for you. 

Next question: What’s the goal of the piece? 

Sometimes, we just want to get information across, in an error-free way. Sometimes, we want to engage the reader. Knowing that is also important, because it tells you what tools to use. 

I tend to write repetitively, using the same words in the same ways. To combat this, I use an excellent book, written by a translator: Oliver Dirs’ Good Words Fast, a “unique thesaurus” that helps you replace common, tired words with more descriptive ones. 

The key: a good proofreading strategy 

Before you worry about spice and jazz, you need to eliminate errors, particularly in your translations. My go-to for this is text-to-speech proofreading, for which I use a tool called TextAloud that works as a Word plugin, and a standalone tool. What’s so great about this technique? Where do I start?:

• I hear errors that I don’t see, for example in words that look alike (form/from)
• I hear errors in numbers, especially “nonsense” strings of numbers like a bar code 
• I have to slow down to the computer-reader’s pace, so I pay more attention to the sound of what I wrote
• I hear glaring errors that I might miss on paper (where I meant “always” and wrote “never”) 

If you want to test this out, just use the Read Aloud feature in Microsoft Word. It’s right there and you’re already paying for it. It just doesn’t have as many features as a tool like TextAloud. 

Two other strategies to try if you prefer to proofread visually:

• Paper. Obviously, this is the O.G. proofreading technique (print the translation), but it has a major downside. You then have to transfer the corrections to the electronic version, which brings the possibility of correcting the wrong thing or introducing an error that wasn’t there already. 
• On-screen, but different. Make the text look different; put it in a totally different font, or make it into a PDF, or put it in a different orientation. Anything so that your brain doesn’t think, “Yeah yeah, I already read this 20 times.” 

Then, edit for your pitfalls 

We all have them! I use a self-editing checklist with my particular bugaboos:

• Writing too much in general (why say in 20 words what you can say in 50?)
• Overly long sentences
• Not mixing up sentence length; this is something you want to do, to avoid boring the reader with sentences that all sound the same 
• Using the same word many times
• Overuse of emphasis (“intensely aggravating,” when it’s more emphatic to just say “aggravating”) 
• Repeating what doesn’t need to be repeated. For example, for the sentence above, “What’s so great about this technique?” I had originally written “What’s so great about text-to-speech proofreading?” and then decided, people know what I’m talking about, I don’t need to say it again 
• I also tend to have some inconsistencies, like inconsistent punctuation at the end of items in a bulleted list. For this I sometimes use a tool called PerfectIt, which also catches things like multiple correct spellings of the same word (gray/grey) and can edit for specific style sheet requirements. 

Read it out loud to yourself 

Some people can proofread by doing this. I can’t (same problem: I see what I want to see, not what’s actually there). But even after I’ve done the steps above, I’m surprised at how helpful it is to read the document out loud. I always catch something that sounds unclear, or repetitive, or otherwise needs tweaking. 

I hope these tips are helpful if you’re proofreading something you translated or wrote! Have a great week,