Proofreading your own work?
« updated: April 2, 2015, 2:00:15 PM »
Proofreading your own work isn't usually a good idea, because of the way your mind automatically corrects errors, and fills in blanks. For exmalpe, yuor mnid kowns waht you maent, so ins't lekily to pcik up on tihngs taht mihgt be cnofusnig to ohters. Are you surprised that your mind didn't have much trouble reading this last sentence? You're mine nose what too make of what it seas, because it created it inn the first place. Spelling and grammar checkers might not save you either. Auto-correct functions, if used, sometimes introduce mistakes of their own.
When you proofread your own work, it really helps to read what you've written aloud, rather than reading silently. By reading out loud, you force your mind to function more slowly, and in a different mode. Give it a try; you'll be surprised what a difference it makes.
Here's an even better idea: let your computer read it out loud to you as you follow along!
If your machine doesn't already have a screen reader, at least three free readers are available:
- Speakonia is very easy to use; it simply reads whatever you copy to the clipboard.
- eSpeak comes with "TTSApp" a simple, but adequate little reader. Just copy and paste the text of interest into its text window, then press the "Speak" button and listen while you follow along in your document.
- NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is much more capable, but also has a much steeper learning curve. Before launching that, you'll need to read the help file that comes with it.