6 Proofreading Tips That Start With Paper

Whether you write a little or a lot, you should take a moment to look for errors before sending that email or submitting that report or presentation. But should you proofread on paper or on your computer? We asked professionals for their top proofreading tips, and they recommended proofreading on paper.

Why? Because proofreading on paper delivers better results.

Tom Stafford, who studies typos (short for typographical errors) at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, explained why it can be so difficult to spot errors when proofing onscreen.

“We don’t catch every detail; we’re not like computers or NSA databases,” he said in an interview with WIRED magazine. “Rather, we take in sensory information and combine it with what we expect, and we extract meaning.”

In other words, because we know what we meant to write, our brains tend to fill in the correct word or spelling even when there is a mistake. Editing functions in popular word processing applications can help flag spelling errors, but they don’t always find words that have been used incorrectly. When we review material onscreen, we often miss those errors simply because our brains autocorrect them.

That’s why virtually any list of proofreading tips will include the suggestion to review a hard copy instead of proofreading on a computer screen. Changing the format of the content from digital to print makes it less familiar, which can cause your brain to be more alert to errors.

The professionals we spoke with tend to do a combination of onscreen and paper proofreading, depending on the project. But they agree that proofreading on paper leads to better results.

Emily-Sarah Lineback, a freelance editor based in North Carolina, says, “For me, proofing on paper is always better, and I catch more. I don’t always proof by printing, but whenever it’s a more lasting project, I put it on paper.”

Here are six reasons “print it out” is among professionals’ top proofreading tips.
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