• 3-minute read
• 23rd July 2016

How Does Proofreading Help My Work? 5 Brilliant Benefits

Since you’re reading this, we assume you’re at least vaguely interested in having your work proofread by professionals. But how exactly does proofreading help?

1. Proofreading Ensures Your Work is Mistake Free

As much effort as you put into checking, it’s very easy to overlook mistakes in your own work. This is because our brains tend to internally ‘correct’ or skip over any errors we see when we’re already familiar with something, making mistakes difficult to spot.

This is where having professional assistance helps, since we bring fresh eyes to your work.

2. Proofreading Earns You Extra Marks

It’s not unusual for up to 10% of the marks on an essay to be awarded for good spelling and grammar. Likewise, being able to communicate your ideas clearly and concisely enhances readability and will impress your marker.

As such, having your work proofread can gain you extra marks, or even improve the overall grade you receive for your essay.

3. Proofreading Ensures Professionalism

Outside of university, proofreading your written work is essential to ensuring professional presentation. This applies to everything from business reports and promotional copy to CVs and cover letters, so proofreading will be crucial throughout your career.

4. Computers Still Can’t Handle Proofreading

We use computers for almost everything these days. There are even spellchecking and proofreading programs available. So why not use these instead of a human proofreader?

Simply put, they’re not as good. The spellchecker in Microsoft Word, for instance, will identify obviously misspelled words and some grammar mistakes, but frequently overlooks issues with homonyms, proper nouns and technical terminology.

Our proofreaders, by contrast, are familiar with various writing styles and provide helpful feedback on the structure and flow of your work, too. No proofreading program can compete with this combination of expertise and experience.

The computers can still beat us at chess, though. We have to give them that. [Photo: Jimngu/wikimedia]

5. Using a Professional Proofreader Saves Time and Effort

As well as ensuring clarity, concision and an authoritative tone, having your work proofread by a professional saves a lot of time and effort.

This is partly because proofreading is a specialist skill, so thoroughly checking your own writing will often take a long time. Having your work proofread by a professional means you can spend this time and energy on other tasks, thereby increasing your working efficiency.

Still not completely convinced? Then try sending us a 500-word sample of your writing. We’ll proofread it for free and return it with all changes recorded. That way, you can see how proofreading can benefit your work in practice!