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Program Details

Power Proofreading develops learners’ ability to find and fix writing problems. 

We cover four principles: 

• Know what you’re looking for.
• Recognize mistakes when you see them.
• Know how to fix errors.
• Have several strategies of attack. 

This class presumes that participants are already strong writers who are ready to refine their ability to clean up documents—whether written by themselves or others. 

The structure of the class organizes the learning from the simple to the complex:

• Review basic grammar and usage concepts as requested by learners
• Study techniques for pinpointing mistakes
• Apply those techniques to sample documents that we proofread and then discuss alternatives.

Learners come to recognize that writing is an inexact science offering many choices, depending on the purpose of the document and the composition of the intended audience.  They become confident that their corrections are accurate and suitable for their writing situation.  Your organization profits by looking more professional.  (Placement in Proofreading takes a score of 85% or above on the Business Writing Basics pretest, or completion of the Basics class.)

Four half-day sessions or twelve 1.5 hour sessions

Core Competencies for Power Proofreading

• Recognizing the difference between revising and editing, and what you, as the proofreader, are permitted to change
  
• Knowing the steps to successful proofreading—what to check, what to clarify, and what to be sensitive to
  
• Using six techniques to make proofreading accurate
  
• Recognizing errors in sentence structure, grammar and punctuation and knowing how to fix them
  
• Keeping track of your own pattern of mistakes so errors can eventually be overcome
  
• Mastering commonly misspelled words and homonyms (words often confused)