5 Common Proofreading Mistakes to Avoid

Proofreading, the final hurdle of the writing process. You’ve drafted, redrafted, and edited… and now you have to go through it all again, just to catch typos?

It may not be the most exciting or glamourous stage, but proofreading is essential if you want your writing to be polished and professional. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been writing for years, it’s easy to fall into the same traps. Here are five common mistakes to watch out for when proofreading your own work.

• Relying on spellcheck

Sure, spellcheck and grammar tools are helpful, but you shouldn’t rely on them to catch all errors. It can catch many typos, suggest spellings, and even flag basic grammar. It could definitely prove to be a helpful tool in your proofreading process – but they’re not foolproof.

If you think clicking on spellcheck, or even using a more advanced tool like Grammarly, is all you need to do when proofing, you are unfortunately mistaken.

Spellcheck has limits. It will not catch correctly spelt and grammatically correct words that have been used incorrectly. For instance, ‘Look up at the knight sky’. It doesn’t assess your meaning, your intent, or your writing flow. And it especially can’t account for creative or experimental stylistic choices in writing, where the ‘errors’ are intentional. It may also use American English for spellcheck, whereas you may want to use British English for your manuscript. 

• Relying on one read-through

Catching every mistake in one go is unlikely, especially when you’re working with your own writing. Multiple read-throughs allow you to focus on different features (first word checking, then spelling, then punctuation, then structure etc.). 

Your process might vary depending on how you write. If you power right through the first draft, it will mean you may need multiple reviews after that. If you write in a cycling fashion, then you may have reviewed your work more than once as you go. If you are using spellcheck and grammar software, you should be reviewing each change to make sure it is a good change instead of blindly agreeing. Either way, repetition matters.

Whenever possible, give yourself some time between writing and proofreading. It is easy to miss mistakes when proofing something immediately after you wrote it, because your mind is still fresh with what you intended to write and not what is actually on the page. Coming back with fresh eyes makes it much easier to spot errors your brain previously skimmed over.

• Relying on what’s in your head

Even the most passionate grammar lovers and the spelling bee champions of the world probably do not have knowledge of every single grammar rule, spellings, or word definitions in their head at any given time. It is unrealistic to rely on just what your mind picks up as you read through your work for mistakes.

As addressed previously in our article ‘Why don’t we spot our own typos?’, the reason our brains may be inadequate in correcting our own writing mistakes is due to a psychological process of generalisation. This means that, when we are reading, our brains focus on big picture meaning and not the small details such as words and letters. For eaxmlpe, tihs qeustoin mkaes sesne to yuo, rgiht? So, even if you did have the entirety of the English language grammar rules in the very forefront of your mind, the likelihood of you catching every single spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistake in your writing is quite low.

When I was proofing my academic work recently, I found good use in ‘questioning myself.’ As I read, if I even got the suspicion of a doubt over a grammar rule or a word choice, I went right over to Google for assurance. Wait, is ‘bought’ the right word here? No, I meant ‘brought.’ What exactly is the difference between an em-dash and an en-dash? 

Have confidence in your creativity, and at the same time, have some doubt about the rules.

• Relying entirely on yourself

Having an extra set of eyes reviewing your work is very useful. It finds mistakes you might miss because you know what you meant to say, which makes it easy to miss what’s actually on the page. It can also be great when you are still learning and refining your writing skills, or if grammar and/or spelling are a struggle for you.

Of course, this is not feasible for every writer and writing project. Ideal. But not realistic. We’ve all got deadlines and budgets that can get in the way. So while most of my writing is reviewed constantly by me, myself, and I only… For important work, like something you’re publishing, submitting or selling, it’s worth considering an external pair of eyes such as a professional proofreader to catch and polish things you simply won’t see. 
So, to summarise this, if you have the time and a dependable writing ally, group, or beta reader, get your work proofread by a second set of eyes. If you are going to be selling your writing or you need to make a really good first impression (like submitting a manuscript to an agent), strongly consider investing in an editor. Otherwise,you should  learn the skills to make a polished draft on your own.

• Thinking its all about typos

One of the biggest misconceptions about proofreading is that it is only about fixing spelling mistakes. In reality, proofreading is the final quality check before a piece is published or shared. It’s about spotting small but important issues that affect clarity and consistency.

This includes things like:

• Missing or repeated words
• Punctuation errors or inconsistencies
• Incorrect or inconsistent capitalisation issues in names, titles, and headings
• Incorrect order of words (such as “is it” instead of “it is”) 
• Correct form of English spellings, grammar, and punctuation (e.g. British vs American English)
• Incorrectly applied or inconsistent styles such as bold, italics, and underline 
• Extra unit spaces or missing unit spaces between words and sentences 

Page numbers match table of contents and match any internal references (such as see page x)

It is easy to miss writing mistakes, in particular your own. Use the myriad of tools available to you (grammar software, Google, etc.) to refine your writing, but don’t forget the value of human eyes and minds (professional editors/proofreaders, yourself, and others). Proofreading is part of creating written works that will present well to potential readers. 

By Emily