Do you have business writing skills? Test it!

So you have finished that urgent document and are ready to send it. You have researched and verified your data. You have ensured that your document is legible by leaving plenty of white space in the top, bottom, left and right margins to make it more visually appealing to the reader.

Sure, you know you need to check it out, but the client is waiting, it’s a rush job, after all, they’ll understand if there are a couple of typos or misspelled words, right? Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. They might take it this time, but when it comes time to award contracts, they will think twice about working with a company that doesn’t do a perfect job. Are you more important, is your company willing to take that risk?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of proofreading as an “extra” step. It is not optional; it is mandatory. Proofreading should be the final step in writing any document, be it a 50-page report or a 100-word email. If you send a note (an internal document) with errors, you run the risk of damaging your credibility; If you send a document with errors to people outside your company, it also damages the credibility of your company.

Here are some review guidelines:

Don’t trust the spell checker. The spell checker is fine as a first resort, but not a last resort. Spell Check only knows if a word is a word; it does not distinguish between words that sound the same, but have different meanings; that is, “there, their, are”; “is, is”; “one, won”.

Take a break between writing and proofreading. Correct with “fresh eyes”. If you have the luxury of time, wait 24 hours after writing the document before reviewing it. Most of us don’t have that luxury, but waiting even 20 minutes before reviewing a document is helpful.

Always check a hard copy. Never try to check on your computer screen; when you check on the screen, you see what you wanted to write. This advice is also valid for when you are reviewing documents from other writers. You are more likely to see errors when reviewing a printed copy.

Check outside of your workspace. When you check in the same place where you have written the document, you are inclined to make the correction as soon as you find the error. This will slow you down.

Always check out loud. When you read aloud, you will see mistakes that you might miss while reading silently.

Get a second set of eyes to correct, especially complex documents or documents that will be read by people outside your company. It is easier to find the mistakes of others than ours.

It goes without saying that you want everything you write to reflect well on you and your business. Now try it!

About Me

Dashy

Do you have business writing skills? Test it!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply