Skip to main content

Are you new to writing content professionally, or maybe you’ve just started a blog and want to make sure your copy is tip-top? Well, fear not; our content writers are here to help with some insightful proofreading tips.

If you’re hoping to avoid rogue commas and missing words from your content, read on to discover how to proofread on Word, or whichever platform you are using to write and edit your content. We’ve got some cracking tips for proofreading your own work that will really help when you begin proofreading content.

Take time out to refresh

The first of our proofreading tips is one you should always follow if you can, especially when learning proofreading for beginners.

Like with most things, taking a break is always best, especially when you sit down to proofread any piece of content after writing it. Often when writing a piece of content, whether it’s long or short, we become so engrossed in our work that errors naturally occur.

This is perfectly normal; we believe that what we’re reading is what’s been typed out because we’ve already read it in our heads multiple times. But unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Don’t worry if you make a few slip-ups when writing content, like a misplaced comma here and there, or writing “on” instead of “of”. We’re only human, after all! But, to ensure these errors don’t make it past an internal Word document, it’s a good idea to just take yourself away from the piece you’re writing and come back to it later.

Basically, your brain needs to focus on something else in the meantime, and then you can return to your content with a fresh perspective later. Why does this help massively when proofreading? Well, it’s almost like reading the piece of content from scratch.

You’ll pretty much notice missed errors immediately as if I’d have checked over the piece straight after writing it, making this one of the most important tips for proofreading you should know.

Double check using the best proofreading tools

Once you’ve created your masterpiece, it’s time to get your spell-check on. Yep, we know – it’s hard to admit that there could be some grammatical errors in our copy, but mistakes will always occur in some way or another.

So, in terms of proofreading tips and tricks, it’s crucial to have some extra tools at your disposal to help you out. However, you shouldn’t take their edit suggestions as gospel. They’re still programmes, but ones that might not understand the subtle nuances of everyday language.

If in doubt, go with your gut. But that being said, here are a couple of genius grammar tools you can use to help up your proofreading game and ensure your content is as faultless and flawless as possible.

Microsoft Word Editor

As well known as Word’s spell-checker is, not many people know about its editor function. To activate Word’s editor, simply click ‘review’ on the top navigation bar of your Word document and head to ‘editor’.

Clicking this will bring up the editor tool, which checks for spelling, grammar, and even issues with clarity. As we mentioned, you don’t have to listen to all of the editor’s suggestions, but as far as proofreading tips and tricks go, you be surprised how many small things word picks up.

Grammarly

While Microsoft Editor is certainly good, when it comes to the best proofreading tools, you’ve probably already heard of the top option.

Grammarly is the premier option when it comes to spell-checking software, and it’s completely free! All you have to do is just download and install it onto the web browser and Word, and you’re good to go.

Grammarly is brilliant at helping you see if you’ve missed out a word, the odd hyphen here or there, or even if you’ve written the wrong word without realising. Naturally, it also provides grammar help if you’re a little unsure about something.

Again though, even though Grammarly is one of the best proofreading tools out there, you shouldn’t rely entirely on its suggestions.

Get a second opinion and pair of eyes

While giving yourself a break before proofing your own work is one of the best tips for proofreading, it also never hurts to have another person look over your work. Teamwork makes the dream work, after all!