A Tricky Task – How to Proofread My Document Properly?

Do I really need to proofread my document?

It is most probably that you already know well what a proofreading process is or at least what result is expected from it. Get straight with your ideas, put them simply, check for grammar, commas, typos – that’s pretty much it.

However there are certain requirements applied to the particular types of the paper being proofread. The way of proofreading the student’s essay would differ from checking the personal e-mail, or correcting the PhD thesis. The distinction depends on the status of the text written (official / unofficial) and the target auditory that also determines the overall style of the message (official – for the wide auditory or official persons; personal – for the narrow circle, individuals).

If you need to proofread a document first of all you’ve got to set out what the document is. The documents are the texts marked with the most severe requirements as to their style and execution. The writing “etiquette” has a great weight here that is why all the details must be checked with close attention. Be it a business contract thorough proofreading, a resume revision or a professional resume editing there is a strict requirement for the impeccable grammar and style. Imagine an international trade contract written with slang, with poorly aligned paragraphs and discordant tenses:

Yr company own us one if you’d  fail pay. We’ll charge ya a scoop.

The penalty will be imposed on the Performer in case the requirement for the timely payment isn’t fulfilled.

Let alone the resume (a personal document) that is compiled to represent the job seeker in the optimal way and highlight his or her accuracy and reliability.

I was have going to high school on 2009-2013. Then I worked in the servising.

I attended the high school in 2009-2013. For the following years I was employed in the service sector.

To avoid annoying mistakes that can make you feel uncomfortable take a simple rule – always get through your document one more time before processing it on the next stage (distributing a resume, sending the contract to another party, applying for the visa). Then you’ll be able to spot the deficiencies and perform at least superficial proofreading. Not to mention the serious official documents require several thorough checks to avoid the slightest misunderstanding.   

Whatever your decision is, there is always a space for the backstopping solution – use an assistance of the professional editing and proofreading service to the extent you determine yourself. Be it just proofreading for the punctuation or a complex work on editing and proofreading a set of the documents.

The similar articles on the different aspects of this topic:

1. Have the Revision of Paper With Us
2. How the Best Academic Editing Services Work
3. How to Be the Online Essay Proofreader
4. Tips and Tricks from the Best Essay Editing Service
5. How to Choose the Best Proofreading Services

What documents need proofreading?

Any paper that bears a mark of belonging to some person can be named a document. The documents can be divided into three groups:

1. Business documents
2. Personal documents
3. Formal documents

The business documentation shows a variety of the types of the business papers, each type serving  its designated target. Such studying papers as the dissertation, for instance, need alternative principles of proofreading to be applied. Check our recent articles on that topic https://essay-editor.net/blog/all-about-dissertation-proofreading-service-uk .

They business documents are executed in accordance with the strict rules and though nowadays allow for deviations to some extent, nevertheless must correspond to the following requirements:

• Be straight. Use the terminology correctly. Do not mix marketing tools with the facilities of the market. Try to avoid dubious, fuzzy multi-meaning words and phrases. Replace the paper with the document and the goods realization  with sale. Cut out any “waste” words that do not add anything in terms of the sense: so to speak, generally, obvious, if only and so on.
• Be simple. There is a need for the document to be comprehensible and easily readable for all the parties involved. Thus it must directly reflect the meaning that was put into it. Make your sentences simple ones, avoid concretizations within one sentence. Avoid lengthy paragraphs and descriptions. Use Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and reduce Participles, Gerunds, Complex parts of speech. Same with the simple tenses. Apply Present Simple, Past Simple and Continuous, Future Simple and blacklist Future-in-the-Past, Past Perfect and complicated Conditionals:

The conditions of the delivery would have depended on the availability of the data close to fact representing the outsourcing process and the completing of the payment procedures.

The conditions of the delivery will depend on the factual data available. This data must encompass the outsourcing process and the  completion of the payment.

Some parts of speech themselves can make an issue when wording a document. For example, Gerund requires certain position in the sentence. Learn more about this somewhat tricky grammar category in the recent article in our blog  on the ways to apply Gerund in your speech.

• Use modal verbs. Instead of including the lengthy descriptions and the picking of a precise time put a modal verb in the Present simple:

There is a need for the precise payment schedule.

The payment schedule must be precise.

• Erase emotions. There is no room for the epithets and colourful descriptions as well as the personal feelings in the business documents (except for the business correspondence in some cases: official congratulations, condolences etc.). Avoid dramatic, colourful, highly beneficial, light, excellent, dismay, delight etc. Make it of a high quality, useful, easy to develop, minor, profitable, dissatisfaction, satisfaction and so on.
• Double check all the factual information: names, ranks, contact details, legal addresses, bank details, also all the digits. Make sure to browse through this data yet one more time before completing your proofreading as a spellchecker program may modify tour information in the queerest way. Instead of Mr. Beez-al-Rout, the dredging engineer you can get Mr. Beetroot, the dwelling engineer, for example.
• Use formal style. There is no need for the fine literature or colloquial slang in the business document. Make sure all the unfit inclusions like make a deal, shake hands, awesome, bloody, unbearable, benevolent  etc.  are cut out from your text.
• Make sure your grammar and punctuation are correct and represent the sense you wished them to. Remember that a comma may change the whole meaning of the text (though in English its significance is much less than in other languages, e.g. Slavonic ones):

Letting it pass, not delaying. – Letting it pass not, delaying.

Thus the final target of the [business] document proofreading is to receive the straight and comprehensible text, with no sense and form deviations. Check the editing samples for writing available on our website. Pay attention the texts are proofread carefully, no typos, mistakes, incongruities allowed, the primary meaning being preserved. That’s our basic approach to any work.

How to optimize the documents’ proofreading

Now as you determined your task and the desired result – to receive an excellent and correct document you are going to start your proofreading. It seems so simple – just to get through the text once again, spot the mistakes and to fix them. Piece of cake, that.

Now run the document through the spellchecker, one of the online grammar checkers or just give it to someone else to read. How many deficiencies have emerged? That’s it. The author always has a subjective attitude to his or her text. When you have a picture of the text in your mind it is mostly with this picture you work when you go through your text once again than with the set of letters and digits you have before your eyes. By the way, if you still hesitate to print out your document upon proofreading it yourself, consult our paper and document proofreading service. We’ll help you to gain confidence in your text!

If you are going to begin proofreading your document, there are some pieces of advice that may come in handy:

1. Use a spellchecker but don’t fully rely on it. The spellcheckers may help to spot the problem however it is quite rare that they are able to fix it correctly. It happens because the program is not able to analyze the text as a whole, but deals with the separate fragments (words, sentences). You write The pledge on the time-charter and you can receive The lever of the tiny carter.

Always double-check after the spellchecker proofreading and if you still have doubts our professional will willingly assist you https://essay-editor.net/blog/find-the-best-paper-editor-online .

2. Go from general to specific: first read the text from the beginning to the end to spot terminology deficiencies and corruptions of the sense. Then roam through the text word by word, picking the dubious ones to check them later. Use a pencil to point at every grapheme or even every symbol to let your eyes and your brain concentrate on each word.

3. Use a hard copy for your proofreading. The influence of the screen radiation sets your eyes and the brain into the economy mode. Besides, the change of the format may also help to have a different view of the text and spot the deficiencies invisible before. 

4. When you’ve finished with your document’s proofreading and intent to print it and deliver further, do the former only. Print it and let it lay for a while on your table. Distract yourself with some other tasks or get rest. Take a pencil and go through the text again. Looks great? Congratulations!

The result of the quality document proofreading is a consistent grammar-proficient text with clear structure and format. It must reflect all the required information in the accessible and comprehensible way. Certainly, no grammar mistakes or typos are allowed. Execution of the correct document provides for the successful solution of your issues with official institutions and also is a good training for your linguistic skills.

For your grammar check you might like to find out about the tricky grammar categories from our articles:

1. How to Master Future Perfect Tense
2. How to Master the Subjunctive Mood
3. Where Appropriate to Use Past Indefinite Tense
4. How to Become a Master of Indirect Speech
5. Usage of Modal Verbs in Past and Present Tenses

Are all your documents in order now? Make sure with the assistance of the professional and experienced editors!