Standards of Excellence: How to Work Effectively with Your Proofreader

I know that I have a tendency to be hard on proofreaders and their idiosyncrasies. Nevertheless, my success as a grant writing consultant would have been impossible without the help of the very picky people who seem to delight in triumph every time they catch me in an error or spelling mistake. 

 

Plain Language Tips: Proofreading

Overtime, I have developed some rules I apply to working with proofreaders, rules that help them, and me, be more effective. 

1. I save the proofreading for last. This means that before I involve a proofreader, I need to be personally confident that I have done everything I can to make the document perfect. This means reviewing the document after I have had a good rest.  
2. I try to involve the client in the proofreading too. In every charity, there is generally at least one person who seems quite content to go over the application in great detail. 
3. I use the on-line tools available through Microsoft Office. Using these tools, I can quickly review the grammar and spelling in the document. I can also recover from my bad habit of using the same word twice in a row. 

I turn to the proofreader for help only after I have followed through on these three basic steps listed above. 

Believe it or not, there is still plenty of work for them to do. The proofreaders now have final responsibility for making sure that the document is correct in all aspects.

1. The proofreader makes sure that we are using correct English grammar, exact spellings of words, and conventional English usage. 
2. The proofreader is also responsible for double checking the spacing between words and between sentences. 
3. The proofreader is also tasked with making sure that the document displays perfect internal consistency. This means that the same concept is identified and spelled the same way throughout the document no matter where it is used. A similar level of perfect internal consistency must occur in titles, headings, and the table of contents. Even the captions under the photos we use need to be perfectly consistent in style and size.
4. The proofreader checks that we have actually answered the questions posed by the federal government or the private foundation. To facilitate this aspect of their job, I include the questions I am responding to in the next to final draft of the narrative. This way, the proofreader can compare my responses to the specific requests of the federal government. I have won lot of money because of proofreaders who managed to make me aware that my answer was completely off-base or inappropriate simply by pointing out that I misread the question. After the proofreader has done their job, I remove the questions from the final draft. This gives the grant readers the impression that we just magically got all the answers right. 

All in all, a professional proofreader is a necessity and worth every penny that you invest in their efforts. If you need the services of a professional proofreader yourself, then do not hesitate to send me an e-mail atjohn.drew@drdrewguaranteedgrants.com and I will make sure to connect you to an outstanding professional.