Little Errors, Big Mistakes
Anyone who has been in business for a while knows even the smallest errors can be extremely costly and undermine the credibility of your organization. So, why not make your mistakes big?
Huh?
Okay, so that’s not really what I mean. What I am referring to is a great tip I ran across today at the Business Writing Blog. The article was titled "Make It Big (to Proofread)" and offered a simple, painless way to get better results when proofreading your documents.
If you have ever had an eye exam, you know the bigger the characters are, the more likely you are to actually get it right! So, why do we sometimes try to check our work on a computer screen with 10-point font? At that size, punctuation seems to disappear and the pixelation plays tricks on your eyes. Big Mistakes The answer? Make it bigger! I almost always print a hard copy of things I am proofreading, but whether you’re checking your work on the screen or on a printout, increase the font to make it that much easier. An easy way to enlarge text on your screen is to use the zoom feature (for a shortcut, try pressing the CTRL key while you scroll up and down with your mouse). By increasing the text size, you are more likely to catch those small (but important) punctuation errors, and you’ll notice the VERY important missing letter where you meant to type the word “public.” In case you didn’t already know, your spell-check tool will not catch embarrassing errors like that one. Tips like these are helpful, but I contend that the best way to proofread your work is to get a fresh set of eyes. No, I’m not talking about LASIK surgery. I mean, handing your documents off to someone who can bring a fresh perspective to what you are writing. The problem with proofreading your own work is that when your brain knows what the text is supposed to say, it won’t always notice what it does say. If there is someone in your office (and I don’t mean your trusty spell-check program) who can catch your spelling and grammatical errors, I encourage you to run your documents by them before sending your work. Whether the document is meant for a client, your boss, or anyone else you need to impress with your ideas, they will have a hard time focusing on what you are trying to communicate if your writing is laced with mistakes. And it really does take only a few little errors to make someone suddenly uncomfortable about the quality of your work. IWES Proofreading Services For those of you who may not have a reliable proofreader or who have a limited—and already overworked—staff, Inspiration Writing & Editing Services offers professional, quick-turnaround proofreading for documents of all subjects and sizes. E-mail us your work in the morning, and you’ll have it back by afternoon. Send it to us before you leave the office, and it will be waiting in your Inbox when you return the next day. [Note: Document length may affect turnaround time]. Little errors are big mistakes. Let a proofreader find yours before someone else does.
