Ten Proofreading Tips from #scbwicon15

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Here are the Ten Proofreading Tips used as prompts for discussion at the SCBWI Conference Fringe session 


with added input from the Fringe participants – Thank you! 




1 Get in the Mood 


Put your work to one side for a while. Don’t attempt to proofread immediately after writing The End with a flourish. Your creative brain isn’t the same as your proofreading brain, and you need to be in the zone. 

Everyone agreed. 



2 Hard Copy 



Some prefer to proofread a printed copy. This may work for you. 

We discussed fonts, including the convention that is easier to read online with a san serif font, and easier to read print with a serif font. This article from May 2014 describes a few fonts and a future Proofreading Tips will expand on this.




3 Margin Call 


Read through, make corrections and remember to ‘Save’. Then change the font size, or the margins, and read through again. Typos hide at the beginnings and endings of lines, so changing the font size or the margins will flush them out. 

Discussion followed on not only changing font size, but changing to a font you don’t like to keep you concentrating. Curlz and Comic Sans were suggested (of course). 



4 Organising and Analysing v Organizing and Analyzing 


Use your Spellchecker function, but remember it will probably suggest American spellings: theater, mold, jewelry, etc. Your Spellchecker may offer the American spellings of organize, analyze, etc. This may be what you want, but don’t mix with the UK English use of organise, analyse, etc. The choice of ‘…ise’ or ‘…ize’ is up to you – just be consistent. Most British publishers use ‘ise / yse’. British newspapers and the BBC use ‘ise / yse’. If you’re using Oxford spelling, as used by Oxford University Press for historical and etymological reasons, then it’s ‘ize / yse’. Using the UK spelling means you can use your ‘Find’ function to look for ‘ize’ and if it isn’t in ‘size’ ‘seize’, ‘maize’ or ‘capsize’… it probably needs checking. 

We touched on the subject of ‘American’ speech punctuation too. It’s a vexed topic as publishers vary. Full stops in with the speech or not? Again, go for consistency. 



5 On Your Own? 



Read your work aloud. This helps you find sentences that need shortening and/or dividing. Obviously, if your WIP is a picture book rather than a lengthy novel, you’re a winner. 


Using a read aloud program such as Word Narrator was also suggested here. 





6 Search and Ye Shall Find 


Use your Find function to look for your weaknesses. We all have regular mistakes, for instance typing ‘adn’ for ‘and’. When typing quickly I find I type ‘webiste’ for ‘website’ and ‘inovice’ for ‘invoice’ (doh). If you fine tune your Autochecker function you can pick up your regular typos, but nothing beats a painstaking read through. 

Everyone agreed there’s a ‘regular mistake phenomenon’. 



7 Greengrocers Apostrophe’s 


Use your Find function to look for apostrophes and check them. Check all your possessives – ‘the greengrocer’s apostrophe’, ‘the cat’s whiskers’, ‘the footballers’ wives’. Check all your contractions – ‘don’t’, ‘won’t’, etc. Regular typos I see include ‘you’re’ for ‘your’,’ it’s’ for ‘it’s and ‘they’re’ for ‘there’ or ‘their’. Find and check. 

Its and it’s – always search and check. 



8 ! !@&!#?! 


Use your Find function to look for exclamation marks and think about them. Colin McNaughton’s Preston Pig can get away with ‘Suddenly!’ and ‘Boo!’, but exclamation marks can nearly always be deleted. Your writing should get the reader exclaiming, not the punctuation. 

!

Of course you can argue for a few appropriate exclamation marks when writing for children! 



9 Facts Facts Facts 


Check your facts as well as your spelling and grammar. You can use Wikipedia, but only for the links to actual sources listed as footnotes in each entry. Yes, you need to scroll right down the Wikipedia page to the small print, follow those numbered links and check them. 

 Remember all expenses accrued when checking facts are tax deductable. 



10 Increase Your Wordpower 


Consult style guides: BBC, guardian, Telegraph, TIMES– they are all available online. They are helpful for established opinions on usage, spelling of controversial (or topical, or foreign) words, use of hyphens, etc. 

Explore dictionary websites too. 

Finally, everybody agreed with this new word coined in New Scientist 3 October 2015. It was included in “...readers’ suggestions of feelings they lacked a word for” 

Lexnesia: for when you write a word and suddenly it looks weird and you’re not even sure if it’s a proper word 


Many thanks to all Conference Fringe Proofreading Tips session participants, your enthusiasm was appreciated.


@ProofreadingTip
Catriona Tippin has been a member of SCBWI since 2006 and helps organise venues for SCBWI North East. Details of her writing and illustrating here. She proofreads study guides, house magazines and publicity material for national educational organisations, in addition to working on a variety of proofreads and copyedits for the growing self-published world. Her monthly column is intended to give you food for thought, remembering “Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling or typographical error” (McKean’s Law, named after its inventor Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford American Dictionary).

9 comments:

  1. Ooh, I do like this column. Such practical tips. I am off to change my margins.

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  2. Fantastic tips here. Thank you.

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  3. Thank you Catriona. Great post. I need this right now. :)

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  4. Thank you Catriona. Great post. I need this right now. :)

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Thanks for the post - lots of really good advice.

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  7. Good to hear this has been useful. More next month!

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  8. The medical school personal statement is just one part of your entire medical school application. Your GPA, MCAT, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation and interview make up the rest.

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  9. Really very good proofreading tips i suggest to those student who has weak language thanks for share it solve my physics homework .

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