Establish authority with your audience and communicate your message clearly with Scribendi's Editing and Proofreading Checklist.

1. EDIT &
PROOFREAD
HOW TO
YOUR WRITING

2. GOOD WRITING IS
ALMOST ALWAYS
THE RESULT OF
GOOD EDITING.
Whetheryou'vedraftedanacademicpaper,acreative
pieceofwriting,orabusinessdocument,itneedstobe
editedandproofread.Infact,nopieceofwritingis
completeifithasn'tbeenthroughtherevisionprocess.
Doyouwanttolearnthekeystepstoedit
andproofreadyourownwriting?

4. PERFECT!
Thenlet'sbeginsoyoucanlearnhowtoeditandproofread
yourownwriting,stepbystep.
Typically,whenediting,itisbesttoconductafirstpass
(tocatchmajorerrors),asecondpass(tocatchminor
errors),andafinalproofread(toensureperfection
throughout).
Let'sstartwiththefirstpass!

5. ENSURE
EFFECTIVE
ORGANIZATION
Eachtypeofwritingfollowsitsown
conventions; reviewthesebeforeapplyingthe
conventionalorganization.
Checkthateachparagraphiswellstructured.
Checktheheadingsandlist,ensuring their
formattingfollowsyourpreferredorrequired
styleguide.
Createanoutlinetohelpyoubeststructure
yourwriting.
01

6. CHECK THE FLOW
& TONE
Problemswithflowcanusuallybedetectedby
readingthepieceoutloud.
Toomanyshortorlongsentencesinarowcanbe
distractingforreaders.
Eachparagraphshouldflowintothenext,andthe
ideasshouldconnectandmakesensein
succession.
Checkthatyoursentencesmakesensewhenread
togetherandnotjustoneatatime.
Thecontextandaudienceshouldinfluencehowyou
editthepiece.
02

7. CHECK FOR
CORRECT
MECHANICS
Reviewyourwritingwordbywordto
ensurethatthespellingandgrammar
areperfect.
Makesurethatthetenseandvoiceare
consistentthroughout.
Completeanyunfinishedsentences
andcorrectanysubject–verb
disagreement.
Removeanyjargonandclarifyword
choicesthatmaybeincorrector
unfamiliartothereader.
03

8. ENSURE CLARITY
& CONCISION04
Checkthecontentforalogicalflow,rearranging,
adding,orremovingsectionsasnecessary.
Reviewyourargumentsandstatementsforclarity.
Ifthere'sanyareawhereyouthinkyoucould
elaborateorbemorespecific,besuretodoso.
Ensurethatanyredundancyinthecontentis
removed.
Checkthatthewordingisnottoorepetitive.

9. PUNCTUATE
EVERYTHING
CORRECTLY
Useitalicsforemphasisratherthanquotationmarkstoavoidintroducing
scarequotesintothetext.
Makesureendashesareusedfornumberedrangesandthatemdashes
areusedforparentheticalinformation.
Checkthatcolonsareusedtointroducelistsbutnotafter"include"or
verbsofbeing(e.g.,"is,""will,""was").
Ensuretheconsistentuseofeitherstraightorcurlypunctuation
and eithersingleordoublequotationmarksfirstthroughout.
05

10. CONFORM TO THE
TYPE OF ENGLISH
USEnglishtypicallyusestheOxfordcomma,whereasBritish
EnglishtypicallyomitstheOxfordcomma.
TypesofEnglishfollowdifferentconventionsforquotation
marks(singleordoublefirstandtheplacementofpunctuation).
DifferenttypesofEnglishfollowdifferentspelling(programin
USEnglish/programmeinBritishEnglish)andabbreviation
conventions(Dr.inUSEnglish/DrinBritishEnglish).
Numbersanddatesfollowspecificconventionsindifferent
regions.
06

11. REVIEW THE
CITATIONS &
REFERENCES
Ensureconsistencyinformattingcitationsand
references,consideringtherequiredstyleguide
ifapplicable.
Cross-checkthein-textcitationsagainstthe
referencelist.
Makesurethatauthornamesarespelled
consistentlythroughoutandthatthecorrect
yearsaregivenconsistentlythroughout.
Noteanyinformationinthetextthatisn'tcited
butshouldbetoavoidplagiarism.
07

12. ENSURE
CONSISTENT
FORMATTING
Makesureheadingsarenumberedcorrectlyand
thattheircapitalizationandnumberingare
consistent.
Besureyourformattingfollowstheconventionsof
thetypeofwritingandtheinstructionsofyour
styleguide.
Checkthelinejustificationandspacing;thepage
margins;thefontsize,type,andcolor;theheading
andsubheadingcapitalization,numbering,and
formatting;andthespacingbetweensections,
chapters,paragraphs,andsentences.
08

13. CHECK THE
FIGURES & TABLES
Alltablesandfiguresshouldbementionedinthetextprior
totheirplacement.
Acronymsshouldgenerallybeavoidedinfiguresandtables
aswellasintheircaptionsandtitles.
Checkthattablesandfiguresareformattedconsistentlyin
termsoffonttype,size,andcolorandintheuseof
capitalizationandjustification.
Numberalltabletitlesandfigurecaptionsconsecutively
andformatthetitlesandcaptionsconsistentlyintermsof
fonttype,size,andcolorandintheuseofcapitalization,
numbering,andpunctuation.
Tabletitlesaregenerallyplacedabovetableswhilefigure
captionsaregenerallyplacedbelowfigures.
09

14. CHECK THE LISTS
& EQUATIONS
10
Ensurethatlistsandequationsareformattedand
numberedconsistentlythroughout.
Checkthatequationsarereferredtoconsistently
throughout.
Checkthatlistsarepunctuatedconsistently.
Onlypunctuateliststhatcontainfullsentences.

15. REFER TO ANY
SPECIFIC
INSTRUCTIONS
Ensurealljournalguidelinesorassignmentinstructions,includingwordcount
limitationsandformatting,werefollowed.
Followingspecificinstructionsmayalsomeanensuringthatyouhaveansweredthe
necessaryquestions,providedthenecessarysupplementarymaterialsintheright
format,orfollowedthepromptcorrectly.
Youmayalsoneedtoidentifyandrectifyanylegalorsocialconcerns,
suchasdisclosingconflictsofinterestorissuespertainingtoparticipantconsent
andprivacy.
11

16. PROVIDE YOURSELF
WITH SUBSTANTIVE
FEEDBACK
Feedbackmayincludeprovidingsuggestionstostrengthenargumentsorsections,
identifyingstatementsthatrequireevidence,ornotingwherewritingmechanicsor
flowcouldbeimproved.
Youmayalsowishtoidentifyareasthatrequiredevelopment,clarification,
explanation,orspecificityandanysectionsthatmightbenefitfrombeingmoved,
removed,oraddedtothedocument.
12

18. COFFEE IS
AN EDITOR'S
BEST FRIEND.
WELCOME
TO THE
TRADE!

19. CONDUCT A
SECOND
PASS
Inthesecondpass,reviewthewholedocument
onceagain,payingattentiontoeverypointoutlined
above,especiallyclarityandflow.Correctany
missedorintroducederrors,andthenyou'llhavea
thirddraftthatisreadyforafinalproofread.

20. FINALLY, YOU HAVE MADE IT
TO THE PROOFREADING STAGE.
REVIEW THE WHOLE DOCUMENT
FOR THE FINAL TIME, AGAIN
CHECKING FOR ANY MISSED OR
INTRODUCED ERRORS.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU
HAVE FINISHED THE EDITING
PROCESS AND SHOULD HAVE
AN ERROR-FREE DOCUMENT
THAT IS READY FOR AN
AUDIENCE.
CONDUCT A
FINAL
PROOFREAD

22. CHECK OUT OUR
RELATED BLOG POST,
"HOW TO EDIT AND
PROOFREAD YOUR
WRITING TO ENGAGE
YOUR AUDIENCE," FOR
MORE INFORMATION
AND HELPFUL
EXAMPLES.
IF YOU'D LIKE TO
LEARN THIS SKILL
FROM HOME, ALL IT
TAKES IS THE
NECESSARY
INFORMATION AND
KNOWING WHERE TO
START.

23. DOWNLOAD
SCRIBENDI'S
EDITING &
PROOFREADING
CHECKLIST
FOR FREE!
BY FOLLOWING OUR
CHECKLIST, YOU
CAN ESTABLISH
AUTHORITY WITH
YOUR AUDIENCE
AND COMMUNICATE
YOUR MESSAGE
CLEARLY.
DOWNLOAD NOW

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PROOFREADING YOUR WRITING,
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