{"id":227,"date":"2014-03-12T19:27:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeus\/wordpress\/?p=227"},"modified":"2015-01-29T16:32:17","modified_gmt":"2015-01-29T16:32:17","slug":"the-importance-of-proofreading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"The importance of proofreading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/importance-of-prroofreading.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-230 alignright\" title=\"importance of prroofreading\" alt=\"importance of prroofreading\" src=\"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/importance-of-prroofreading.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"550\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nNever underestimate the importance of proofreading. Mistakes in grammar, spelling or punctuation will reflect negatively on the writer and the organisation.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Proofreading is quality control &#8211; an essential part of day-to-day business.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many levels of proofreading. If you work for a large, global company, chances are your communication team will have a comprehensive proofreading checklist. If you are a solo writer or you are part of a smaller communications team, it would be a really good idea to put one together.<\/p>\n<p>Ideally, written material should be proofread by at least two people other than the writer or the editor. To get you started, I have provided a summarised list that can be applied to all written materials.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>General<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read through your written piece at least once. Check logic and sequence.<\/li>\n<li>Check language. Are the following correct?<br \/>\n&#8211; \u00a0use of active voice (not passive)<br \/>\n&#8211; \u00a0clarity and conciseness<br \/>\n&#8211; \u00a0sentence and paragraph length<br \/>\n&#8211; \u00a0gender neutral language<\/li>\n<li>Check for unusually long sentences and<br \/>\nparagraphs. As a\u00a0rough guide\u00a0an average sentence length of 17 words and\u00a0maximum sentence length of 30\u00a0words is \u00a0recommended for readability.<\/li>\n<li>Check for spelling and typographical errors. Don&#8217;t rely on spell check or grammar check. Always double check the suggestions.<\/li>\n<li>Check grammar and punctuation.<\/li>\n<li>Explain abbreviations and acronyms used for the first time, and be consistent in their usage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Branding<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check the correct placement and colour of your company&#8217;s logo, and any other elements important to the look and feel (ie, placement of web address or contact details).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Formatting<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Check format and appearance. Are the following correct and consistent?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Information duplicated or missing<\/li>\n<li>Number usage and units &#8211; Imperial (US) and Metric (ROW). Are they used correctly?<\/li>\n<li>Fonts and fonts sizes<\/li>\n<li>Line spacing<\/li>\n<li>Headings and subheadings &#8211; check order and format<\/li>\n<li>Widows (isolated word at the top of the page) and orphans (abandoned word at bottom of page)<\/li>\n<li>Pagination and page breaks &#8211; placement and format of page numbers, changes in justification and margins<\/li>\n<li>Page numbering &#8211; check all pages (from cover to index) for correctness, consistency, sequence and format<\/li>\n<li>Lists (numbered and bulleted) &#8211; check numbering, format, punctuation and spacing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Intellectual Property (IP) and regulatory requirements<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check the title for correct use of trademark characters<\/li>\n<li>Is the address block up-to-date?<\/li>\n<li>Is the IP information correct?<\/li>\n<li>Is the copyright year correct?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class='kindleWidget kindleLight' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/send-to-kindle\/media\/white-25.png\" \/><span>Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Never underestimate the importance of proofreading. Mistakes in grammar, spelling or punctuation will reflect negatively on the writer and the organisation. Proofreading is quality control &#8211; an essential part of day-to-day business. There are many levels of proofreading. If you work for a large, global company, chances are your communication team will have a comprehensive &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/?p=227\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,62],"tags":[63,36,37,35,38,34],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copywriting-essentials","category-blog","tag-blogeviemcrae-com","tag-editing","tag-editor","tag-proofread","tag-quality-control","tag-the-importance-of-proofreading","nodate","item-wrap"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The importance of proofreading - McRae Communications Consultancy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eviemcrae.com\/?p=227\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The importance of proofreading - McRae Communications Consultancy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Never underestimate the importance of proofreading. Mistakes in grammar, spelling or punctuation will reflect negatively on the writer and the organisation. Proofreading is quality control &#8211; an essential part of day-to-day business. There are many levels of proofreading. 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