Proofreading skills: why are important and how to improve them

Proofreading skills are focused on ensuring quality content pieces without errors or inconsistencies and that best fit to communication goals.

This is achieved by the very nature of proofreading, which is the meticulous review of written documents to detect, identify and correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, formatting and structure. 

In this article we are going to talk about why proofreading is important, what the main proofreading skills are and how to improve them.  

Why is proofreading important?

The importance of proofreading lies in the details. Specifically, in the attention to detail to provide polished content, in which quality is demonstrated by the lack of errors that ensures good proofreading and editing. 

After the writing phase and prior to publication, proofreading is the final step in the editing process.  

In addition to what has been mentioned so far, we would like to argue these 8 other benefits of proofreading: 

1. It avoids reader distractions. If there are no errors in the text, the reader can concentrate on the message and not be distracted by a bad punctuation or spelling mistake, not to mention that a text with a pile of errors invites the reader to abandon the reading.
2. It conveys professionalism. We are at a time when the risk of infoxication and lack of veracity is high. Therefore, it becomes more important that the contents that reach the reader are relevant and correct at all levels. 
3. Ensure that the message is accurate. A mistake or a simple missing comma can change the whole message and ruin the desired communication objective. 
4. Human editing has a soul. Although there are more and more extensions, software or applications that automate text editing, even as you type, the eye of a human editor sees corrections beyond what an algorithm marks.
5. It ensures engaging content. The care with which the editor reviews a text is transformed into content with refined language, vocabulary, grammar and spelling capable of impacting the audience as it is intended to be impacted.  
6. It helps to a better ranking in search engines. Credibility is currently one of the aspects with the greatest specific weight within the EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) rules and directly influences whether a content is well positioned by search engines. From this it follows that it is especially important that the pieces published are optimal and for this it is necessary to review and edit. 
7. It positively influences brand authority and reputation. Continuing with the importance of EEAT and specifically Authoritativeness, a brand that bothers to publish careful content is perceived with authority by its audience. On the contrary, a brand that does not take care of the details of its communication can give the image of not being meticulous with other aspects such as the products or services it offers. 
8. It boosts the achievement of objectives. Along with trustworthiness and authoritativeness, a well-written text accompanied by SEO writing that ranks well, is the best showcase for achieving the objectives set by the brand, whether they are visibility, conversion, lead generation, etc. 

List of 15 proofreading skills 

As previously said, proofreading skills are the abilities that ensure that a content review is free of spelling, grammatical, punctuation or structural errors. 

Among all of them, we have chosen the 15 proofreading skills that we consider to be the main professional skills for this job.

1. Linguistic knowledge. Among all the skills required of a proofreader, mastery of grammatical accuracy, spelling and punctuation occupy the podium. To these are added the vision of format and structure of the text.  
2. Ability to concentrate. These kinds of texts imply a great concentration on the task so as not to overlook any detail. 
3. Time management. Directly aligned with the ability to concentrate is the time to be invested in each process, which should be optimized as much as possible. 
4. Attention to detail. Proofreading is not a mere check, but a thorough review with special attention to error-prone details. 
5. Critical thinking. The decisions of a professional in this field must be unbiased and based on style guides. Decisions include choosing the sentences and phrases that make the most sense in a given context. 
6. Self-discipline. Among the skills of these professionals is self-control and self-discipline that makes them concentrate on each job while minimizing interferences. 
7. Working alone. Proofreaders must know how to work alone. It seems obvious, but the degree of concentration that must be used in their work requires minimizing the sources of distraction, such as other professionals talking around them.
8. Independence. They must be aseptic and proofread texts, avoiding any assessment or judgment of what is said in them. Their work is limited to editorial proofreading.
9. Motivation. In general, their work is prior to the final editing of the text, so these professionals must be able to work independently without seeking supervision from superiors. 
10. Communication skills. Each text tries to convey a message that is within the brand’s communication chain and corporative objectives. 
11. Technical skills. Being aware of the use of different tools, such as word processors, allows proofreaders to save time and upgrade their content pieces to the next level. 
12. Use of style guides. Style guides are proofreaders’ best ally, so knowing how to handle them fluently and having a correct understanding of them allows these professionals to refine contents that reach excellence. 
13. Mastery of research. At this point, the strenght focuses on the professional’s ability to dive into tools such as dictionaries or other sources of information to verify the correct use of a term, an expression or to locate synonyms. 
14. Broad general knowledge. Proofreading a wide variety of texts implies having knowledge of different subjects and being up to date on current issues. It is also possible to specialize in specific niches in which you can master the art of the technical language of the sector. 
15. Adapting to change. Nowadays, professional needs are constantly changing and evolving. In the case at hand, power skills are not alien to the industry; on the contrary, they are a plus to be added to the proofreader’s basic curriculum.  

How to improve proofreading skills? 

If you are wondering how to improve your proofreading skills, here are 9 key actions: 

1. Create a checklist and keep crossing off completed proofreading items.
2. Solve one problem at a time.  
3. Scan the document to check its overall harmony.
4. Give a final review out loud.
5. Don’t rely on spell-checking software and apps for all your proofreading. 
6. Take a break between texts to clear your mind. 
7. Opt for continuous training to keep increasing your knowledge. 
8. Make a manual listing the most frequently made mistakes. 
9. Read and write on the margin of your work. 

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