Proofreading Tip: Proofreading Your Online Image

Have you checked your LinkedIn profile lately? Do you have the proper keywords to build your brand and visibility? When others are checking your profile, are they interested in doing business with you, in connecting with you, or in asking to meet you for an interview? Don't let a typo stand between you and opportunities. Potential clients, possible connections, and recruiters may reject you because your profile has an error.

Do you think a spelling error won't matter? Many recruiters will not consider candidates whose resumes have a mistake, and now most companies are using social media to recruit new hires.

Unfortunately, you can't rely on a spell check button in LinkedIn because there isn't one. So, what do you do? Here are some tips that may help:

Read the copy aloud. Doing this will help you find words that are missing or see the wrong word being used such as you vs. your.

Have someone review your copy. Generally, we read our documents the way we intend it to be. It's much easier for someone else to discover our errors.

Copy and paste your profile into a Word document so you can use spell check. Highlight the copy; press CTRL+C to copy. Open a new Word document, and press CTRL+V to paste. Press F7 to check for errors.

What other online errors are preventing you from connecting with others? Online dating? Facebook? Comments posted on articles and blogs? Proofread those profiles and posts, too. Be sure to project a professional image.

What suggestions do you have to help enhance your online image?

Judy Beaver, The Office Pro
Founder of National Proofreading Day
Judy@TheOfficePro.net

Proofreading Tip: Paired Punctuation Marks

How many times have you written an explanation or comment in parentheses and forgot to use the closing parenthesis? Some punctuation marks come in pairs. Excel will tell you it found an error in the formula if you don’t have matching parentheses. And Excel will offer a correction. The closing mark--quotation mark, parenthesis, or bracket--is easy to overlook.

In Word, use the Find command to help you. Press CTRL+F; type the beginning mark in the Find what: text box. Press ENTER to search the document. That way, you’ll find the beginning mark to see if its companion mark was typed.

Judy Beaver, The Office Pro
Founder of National Proofreading Day
Judy@TheOfficePro.net

Proofreading Tip: Checking It Twice

This month, I received a newsletter that had an author's book entitled Get Client's Now! (The book's title is Get Clients Now! by C. J. Hayden. No apostrophe.) Check the source--that's an important proofreading tip. People don't like their names misspelled, and I'll bet authors don't like their book titles misspelled either.

Checking the source is worth the effort; and that's true for company names, addresses, phone numbers, dollar amounts, and numbers in a list.

Judy Beaver, The Office Pro
judy@TheOfficePro.net
National Proofreading Day

Proofreading Tip: Word's Proofreading System

My name is Judy, and I am a red pen-aholic. Just ask my students!

Do you have Red Pen Syndrome? Urban Dictionary.com defines the term red pen syndrome as “The sufferers of this syndrome have an irrepressible urge to correct any and all grammar mistakes that come within their sight. At times this can be helpful, but at other times, it can be downright inappropriate and mean.”

Is there a 12-step program to stop this behavior? If so, do I want to be cured? NO! When I was a young girl, I always wanted a red pen--and still do.

Have you heard there’s a movement to eliminate using red pens in schools? Red corrections are considered “stressful.” Linda Orlando wrote an article about it, “The Ink That Teachers Use to Grade Papers Has Parents Seeing Red.” Isn’t red associated with love? Well, now purple is the new red!

What do you think? Is red ink offensive? Doesn’t red make it easy to see the corrections and comments? Please tell me what you think; it’ll be fun to read your comments.

Microsoft has its own version of the “dreaded red pen.” Are you familiar with Track Changes in Microsoft Word®? You can use this feature to electronically edit documents. Once the changes have been made (which are easily identified), you can quickly accept or reject the suggested revisions. Can you guess what color is used for the changes? Don’t worry; if the red offends you, you can always change the color.

Quick Ways to Start Track Changes
You can click the Review tab to access Track Changes and all its features (if you’re using 2007), or you can quickly activate the feature from the status bar. If you don’t see Track Changes: Off (or On) on the status bar (at the bottom of the document window), right click anywhere on the status bar. Then, select Track Changes from the menu; now press ESC. This indicator lets you see if the feature is activated or not and lets you quickly turn the feature on and off by clicking it.

For 2003, TRK displays in the status bar. Double click it to turn the feature on and off; TRK is dimmed when the feature isn’t on. Use the Reviewing toolbar to access all the Track Changes features.

In both versions you may use the keyboard shortcut, CTRL+SHIFT+E, to turn Track Changes on and off.

Start Proofreading
Once Track Changes is activated, you or a proofreading buddy can add, change, and delete text, showing the revisions without losing your original content.

If you want to add a comment or to ask a question of the author, use the keyboard shortcut, CTRL+ALT+M, to add an electronic “sticky note.” It displays in the right margin. After you’re through typing your note, press ESC.

Then, turn off Track Changes once you’re through editing. Now, you can decide which changes you want to keep.

Choose a View for the Proposed Changes
If you find it confusing to read the document with all the changes, other views are available. Experiment with the different views to choose the one you prefer. (Versions 2003 and 2007 display the markup versions differently.)

Final Showing Markup—all proposed changes are displayed.
Final—all proposed changes are included as if they were accepted.
Original Showing Markup—all proposed changes are displayed.
Original—all the proposed changes are hidden.

Accept/Reject the Changes
You may accept or reject each change individually, or you may accept or reject all changes in one command.

First, press CTRL+HOME to move to the beginning of the document.

2007

• From the Review tab, select Next button to move to the first comment or proposed change.
• Select Accept button or Reject button; Word automatically moves to the next proposed change.
• Continue until all comments and proposed changes have been reviewed.

2003

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click the Next button.
• Select Accept button or Reject button.
• Click the Next button to move to the next comment or proposed change.
• Repeat the steps until all comments and proposed changes have been reviewed.

To accept or reject all the changes at once, click the Accept or Reject list arrow. Click Accept (or Reject) All Changes in Document. This applies to both versions. In 2007 use the Review tab; in 2003, the Reviewing toolbar.

Having someone else proofread your content is helpful because we generally don’t find our own errors. We know what we meant to write, so that’s generally how we read it. Your proofreading buddy doesn’t have to be a co-worker; you can e-mail the document to anyone. Track Changes makes it convenient to proofread someone’s work, and it saves paper because you don’t have to print the document to make corrections.

Judy Beaver, The Office Pro
Founder of National Proofreading Day
Judy@TheOfficePro.net

Proofreading Tip: National Proofreading Day

March 8 is my mom's birthday. Flo loved to correct people, especially when it was related to language. But, is that enough to designate March 8 as National Proofreading Day?

Typos have caused some embarrassing moments and some costly mistakes. Watch Jay Leno's "Headlines," and you'll see what I mean. Even professionals get it wrong.

Correct all errors--in all documents: spreadsheets, presentations, reports, letters, e-mails, resumes. If a spreadsheet has a typo, readers will wonder if the numbers are accurate. A resume with a typo could mean a job seeker won't get called for the interview. Is your presentation professional if it has a misspelled word? Flo certainly wouldn't think so!

In the 1980s a Florida contractor filed a $254,000 product liability lawsuit against Lotus Development Corporation (remember the spreadsheet app, Lotus 1-2-3?). An employee in the construction company developed a Lotus spreadsheet to cost jobs. An additional row was inserted for general expenses; however, the formula didn't include the newly added expense of $254,000 in a $3 million office complex contract, which caused the contractor to underbid on that job. Even though the contractor won the bid, it lost money on the deal. Lotus said it wasn't responsible for the contractor's error. The contractor eventually withdrew the lawsuit.

Test all formulas in a spreadsheet to be sure they're calculating properly, especially after inserting and/or deleting rows and columns. Print a "formula display" of the worksheet to help with debugging; add row and column headings and gridlines before printing to make the formulas easier to understand. (Read the posting below for step-by-step instructions on how to do that.)

Mistakes include misspelled words; misused words; typos; grammatical errors; and missing, overused, and incorrect punctuation marks. Correct all of them. Let's care about accuracy. Join the movement. Carry a red pen (or pencil)! Celebrate National Proofreading Day!

Revising and Proofreading

Experts agree that editing is the key to good writing. Do you take the time to review your document? Proofread it for errors, and review it for conciseness and clarity. Can you use fewer words to make your point? Can you rearrange paragraphs or words to make it easier to understand, more logical?

Revising and proofreading are two different processes. Revising is improving the content for clarity, conciseness, and readability, whereas proofreading is creating copy that is 100 percent accurate. Experts recommend to revise first, and then proofread.

Are you a good proofreader? Typically, people who read slowly are good proofreaders because they don’t skip words. Place a piece of paper or ruler under the line you’re reading to force yourself to slow down. Give yourself plenty of time to review your document; otherwise, you’ll rush through it.

Most of us don’t like to proofread because it’s boring. Set your document aside for at least 24 hours. That way, you’ll be reading it with a fresh set of eyes.

Because editing is a way to become a better writer, be sure to take the time to review your documents before they are sent or distributed. Professionalism in written documents includes accuracy and easy-to-read, understandable content.

Some excellent resources for better business writing are Essentials of Business Communication by Mary Ellen Guffey (South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010), Why Business People Speak Like Idiots by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky (Free Press, 2005), and The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing by Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz (Pearson Education, Inc., 2010).

Proofreading Tips

The countdown to the BEE has started! The 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee website has the countdown clock displayed on its home page; the annual competition is being held June 2 -4 with 274 spellers, ranging from 8 to 15 years old. Did you see the boy who fainted during the 2004 National Spelling Bee and then stood up to successfully spell his word? If you missed it, check out the YouTube video. Amazing!

These spellers are always welcome in my classes. They would never be guilty of the misspellings I’ve seen: fananimal [phenomenal], unfourtnatly [unfortunately], and rein burst [reimbursed], just to name a few.

Didn’t they see the red zigzagged underline that tells them the word is misspelled? While phenomenal is a difficult word to spell, I’m not sure what happened with fananimal. Laziness? Unfourtnatly was handwritten. Rein and burst are words in the electronic dictionary. (Yes, it was spelled as two words because that’s the first option for AutoCorrect, if you spell reimbursed as reinburst. Too bad—the correct spelling of reimbursed is the second option in AutoCorrect.)

I’m horrified when I send a document with a typo! Proofreading seems to be a lost “art,” especially with our hurried communications—e-mail, texting, etc. So, here are some tips for proofreading:

Turn on spell checker. While spell checker may not identify all typos, it’ll help.

Read out loud. Spell checker will not find words that are mistyped if it’s a legitimate word. Reading out loud helps us to find mistakes that we typically don’t see when we silently proofread.

Assume you’ll find errors. Many of us tend to read the copy the way we intended it to be. If you’re actually looking for errors, you may find them.

Add frequently used proper nouns to the electronic dictionary. Be sure to spell the person’s name correctly; then you’ll know it’s spelled incorrectly when the red zigzagged underline appears. (Right-click the name, and select Add to Dictionary.)

Use the Find command to identify common typing errors. Some of us mistype words (form for from, you for your, etc.) can be easily spotted if you use the Find command to help you proofread.

• Press Ctrl+F

• Type the mistyped word in the Find what textbox (for example, form)

• Press Enter.

Word will find each occurrence of the word; then, you can determine if the word (form) is used properly. Continue to press Enter until the dialog box displays, Word has finished searching the document. Press Enter to close the dialog box; then click Cancel to close the Find and Replace dialog box.

Would you like to share some of the spelling errors you’ve seen?