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November 2011

C4N U R34D 7H15?

YIKES!!!!!!
Did anyone proofread this before it was published?

7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 NOW, ON 7H15 LIN3 YOUR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4UT0M471C4LLY W17HOUT 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C34R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15.

And there you have it! This is why proofreading is so challenging. Yes, your brain overlooks misspelled words if the shapes look familiar. The human brain can even fill in missing words. There have been many studies published on these findings. The example above, while all upper case, shows how numbers are easily substituted for letters having similar shapes. Misspellings that are consistent with word shape are more easily missed. Just think of words like work and word or test and tesf; than and tban. If these words were misspelled randomly within your document, you may or may not catch the misspelling.

Of course today we all rely on good ole spellcheck. However, as we all know, "spellcheck" will not catch grammatical errors (which is another topic entirely) nor can you run "spellcheck" on a graphic image or file. Spelling and grammatical errors can easily creep into graphics files without ever being noticed by a proofreader.

Here are a few proofreading tips we would like to share:

1. If you wrote it or designed it, get someone else to proofread it.
   
2. You must concentrate. Get rid of distractions and potential interruptions.
3. Be sure to print out what you are reading.
4. Read aloud to yourself.
5. Look out for homonyms (words that share the same pronunciation
     but have different meanings).
6. Check punctuation and apostrophes.
7. Professional proofreaders recommend reading backwards, word by word.
8. Don't forget to check numbers.
9. Check for font consistency.
10. Watch out for capitalizations.
11. Check graphic images and art files closely.

Can you find all the "mistakes"
in this short sample?

Its a fact that a spell checker will not catch all the mistakes on your text. More specifically, it will not catch misspellings that form other valid words. So how do you solve this problem? Proofreading, of coarse! Just read through you’re text again trying to spot words that don’t fit, and make sure to not loose the focus while you do it. Proofreading is sometimes more important then using the spell checker itself.

You should proofread virtually any written piece, from emails to blog posts. Proofread your homework as well, since you don’t want to drive the principle of your school crazy. Let’s be honest, misspelled words are defiantly a sign of ignorance.

The simple act of proofreading will have a great affect on the quality of your material, and I am sure that you’ll earn more complements from people.

Their you go my friend, and take this advice seriously. After all, you don’t want to look dumb in front of the general pubic!

Click here for mistakes

References and Resources:
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/
http://www.grammarly.com/

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