Re: Proofreading your own material

[Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net>]

Way back in late 1979 and early 1980 -- in the days of phototypesetting and before desktop publishing -- while I was an associate editor at what was the American Society for Personnel Administration (now the Society for Human Resources Management), the editor of the association's monthly magazine showed me her own tried-and-true proofreading method.

Reading every story backwards, from end to the beginning. And I don't recall her ever failing to have the cleanest, error-free copy.

It was Catherine (Cate) Downes-Bower and if this ever gets back to her, kudos to her. I do it when time permits and consistently pass the tip along to my coworkers.

-- Ken in Atlanta







On Saturday, February 14, 2015 10:33 AM, Meryl R. Cohen <merylster -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
 

>
>
>"Fired for proofreading your own material"!?
>
>Why, and would they know anyway?
>
>Meryl
>
>On Saturday, February 14, 2015, Rick Quatro <rick -at- rickquatro -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> This may be a good idea for amateur writers responding in comments, but
>> dangerous for professionals. I have worked at places where you will get
>> fired for proofreading your own material. On another note, replying to
>> idiots is usually fruitless, regardless of how good your spelling is.
>>
>> Rick Quatro
>> Carmen Publishing Inc.
>> 585-366-4017
>> rick -at- frameexpert -dot- com <javascript:;>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: techwr-l-bounces+rick=rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> <javascript:;>
>> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rick <javascript:;>=
>> rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com <javascript:;>] On Behalf
>> Of Peter Neilson
>> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 8:52 AM
>> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com <javascript:;>
>> Subject: Proofreading your own material
>>
>> Newly discovered (or rediscovered) proofing technique may be of aid to lone
>> tech writers.
>>
>> My wife has recently become a prolific contributer to a couple of amateur
>> science blogs. She has noticed that in the heat of responding to
>> idiots////// people with whom she disagrees she can make errors. The most
>> difficult kind is typing one valid word where a different one was intended.
>> Recently she wrote "leave" instead of "live".
>>
>> She's found a proofreading technique that I'd never considered. She copies
>> and pastes her material into LibreOffice and changes the font size! The
>> bigger size is easier to read and moreover it now looks like something
>> written by someone else!
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>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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