Our writing reflects our ability to communicate effectively; it has to convey the message clearly, concisely, and correctly. Given the fast pace of today's work environment and our tendency to multitask, often we send our documents with only a cursory review—if we do one at all.

Consequently, readers may not understand the message, which requires more of our and their time to clarify, and we may not accomplish our objective for writing. Even more embarrassing is finding a misspelled or incorrectly used word (affect or effect? perspective or prospective?) after the document has been sent.

The tips below will help you edit and proof your documents more efficiently and accurately. You may already be using some of them, while others offer new opportunities to enhance your skills.

Before You Edit or Proof:

• Learn the basic grammar rules and use a reliable reference for the less familiar ones. No one can expect to know the more than 500 rules in the English language!
• Make a checklist of what you want to focus on as you edit: content, spelling, punctuation, organization, tone, format, or anything else that is important to you.
• Create your own style guide of words and terms with unique spelling or usage, formatting you want to keep consistent, or conventions that are specific to your organization. For example, your company may capitalize certain words that traditionally are written in lower case.
• Take periodic breaks, especially when reviewing medium to long documents. Changing activities even briefly helps clear your head of what you expect to read, allowing you to read what really is on the page. Although proofing can be boring, it does require focus and concentration. Anything that can relieve your mind of some of the pressure, while allowing you to keep focused, can help. Some people benefit from listening to background music.

Edit for Content:

• Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, and how. Does the text answer all the questions you think it should?
• Highlight sentences that answer these questions to see if the facts flow in logical order. If you decide to rearrange them, number them in the new order before rewriting the text; then check the flow again.
• Make a list of words that typically challenge you, search for them before your final proof, and edit them as needed.
• Check the steps in written procedures by counting them to make sure you have included all. Consider actually doing every step to make sure it is complete, accurate, and in correct order.
• Check that numbers are sequential and match their references in the text.

Follow These General Tips for Proofing:

• Read a hard copy instead of on a screen.
• Use spell and grammar checks as a first pass, but do not depend on them.
• Read text aloud and slowly to check for logic, completeness, and tone.
• Read text backwards word by word to focus on spelling instead of context.
• Have others read the document if time allows.
• Don't proof for every type of mistake at once—do one proof for spelling, another for missing or additional spaces, word usage, font sizes, etc.
• Keep a list of your most common errors and proof for those at separate passes.
• Read down columns in a table, even if you are supposed to read across the table to use the information. Columns may be easier to deal with than rows.
• Double check unusual fonts (italic, bold, or otherwise different). Carefully read type in very tiny font.
• Double check little words: "or," "of," "it," and "is" are often interchanged.
• Double check boilerplate text, like the company letterhead. Just because it is used often does not mean it has been carefully checked.
• Review page numbers and other footer and header material for accuracy and correct order—especially if you have been making many revisions or using an existing template.

Note: Some of the tips have been adapted from LR Communication Systems, Inc., Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922