What is Proofreading?

I have been teaching a combination of English and Literacy for 17 years in the UK and now in Brazil, and I would raise the same point to my students: You need to proofread your work, followed by a groan. Nobody likes to proofread their work, we just like to enjoy the fact that the work has been done, the writing has been completed and submit what has been done. However, it is imperative to check through your written work for those small errors which could create bigger problems. No matter what type of document it is, your submission of work, be it a blog post, document, job application, it needs to be proofread to showcase the best version of you! A small grammatical error or spelling mistake could give the wrong impression of your level of professionalism, even if it was just a typo! Sometimes, we don’t have long to make a good first impression and that can be misinterpreted if your work contains errors.

Although we are aware of this point, many people do go through the proofreading process, however, using their own means – their own eyes. Sometimes, when we do this, we can not spot the mistakes because we made them! Therefore, it is best for your work to be seen by a second pair of eyes, who is trained to spot typical errors. This is where the proofreader comes in! A trained proofreader will be able to spot those spelling and grammatical errors for you to give you peace of mind that you can submit your work at an excellent standard. We don’t promise perfection because no one is perfect, and often, grammar can be very subjective. However, it will be checked with excellence to ensure that your first impression is a good one!