What is proofreading?
Proofreading is the final stage of the writing process when the document is evaluated for mechanical correctness, such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice, spacing and format, and typographical errors.
It is important because it helps you catch mistakes you may have made during the writing stage. Proofreading ensures that your work is polished and professional and that your ideas are clear. Proofreading is especially important for writing that will be viewed by a larger audience or published: novels, short stories, online articles, and so forth. It is also important in formal writing, such as academic papers, business proposals, and resumes.
A Proofreader does
- fixes errors with grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and formatting
- checks for omitted and repeated words
- looks out for improper word choices
- verifies that captions match any visual elements
- checks that reference lists, works-cited pages, and bibliographies are properly formatted
- ensures the right dialect of English
- follows the appropriate style guide
