Manual proofreading can take a bit of time.  Going through a piece word-per-word, sentence-by-sentence and paragraph-by-paragraph is a laborious process.  To make things worse, there’s a good likelihood that you will want to make multiple passes when checking for different things: one for spelling, another for grammatical correctness, a third for wordiness and so on.

The good news is that there are ways you can speed up your proofreading process.  Here are some of them:

1. Get someone else to do it.  If you’re writing a paper for class, you can trade proofreading  duties with other people in the course.  Checking someone else’s writing is usually easier than proofreading your own.  If it’s not for class, ask a friend to do it as a favor (make sure to return the favor later).
2. Do it partly with software.  Microsoft Word and other word processors usually have some built-in proofreading tools.  You can use them for  some of your proofreading tasks, while doing the rest manually.
3. Leave it all to the software.  Dedicated grammar programs, such as Whitesmoke, can handle of all your proofreading needs, as well as some parts of the editing process.  If you truly want to save time working at your paper after finishing a draft, you should definitely go ahead and invest in one.

Hiring A Proofreader

What’s the best way to guarantee that your text is proofread in the best way possible?  Hire a professional to do it.  More than being a fresh pair of eyes, those who do this for a living will likely have come across a multitude of the typical errors most writers make.  For the most part, they’ll know exactly what to watch out for.

If you can’t afford paying someone else to do it, try getting a fellow writer to do it as a favor.  Even if you consider yourself a more complete writer than them, they will be in a better position to proofread your piece.  After slaving over a 10,000 word article, it’s just difficult to gather your wits and read your own work in an objective manner.

Using A Software

While getting an extra hand is ideal, it’s not always the most available option.  Some people just happen to live in a cave and don’t really have anyone who can help them out.  In these cases, a proofreading software should prove extremely helpful.

Like all proofreading options, don’t expect it to catch everything.  However, I guarantee that using software will turn up a better copy than doing it all by yourself ever could.  Even better, it can get those results at a considerably faster rate.

Putting In Your Own Work

This is not to say that you should spend any time proofing your own piece.  The point is that doing it all on your own is a dangerous exercise that is easily avoidable.  By all means, fix your writing – just make sure to employ available alternatives as well.