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Proofreading: The Quest for Perfection
Before any piece of writing goes live or to the printer, it needs a final proofread to look for any lingering errors. Here’s why and how.
If you’ve read my other articles in this series, you know that many steps lie between your draft article or book manuscript and the published or posted product. First, peer review (aka beta reading) improves your piece by getting input from representative readers. Next, several layers of editing — developmental, technical, line, copy — hone your work to present your material in an effective, consistent, and well-structured fashion. The publisher, even if it’s yourself, then packages your work into final form through the artwork, interior design, cover design, page composition, and perhaps indexing. You’re almost ready to go to press — but not quite.
Be it an article or a book, the final step in the production process is to proofread the final laid-out pages. People sometimes convolute reviewing, editing, and proofreading, but they are distinct activities with different objectives. During proofreading, you’re not looking to improve the piece further but rather to make sure that it’s free from typographical, layout, and cosmetic errors and ready to deliver to your eager readers.
