Chances are that in most instances you’ll continue to proofread the way you always have — start at the beginning through to the end and make edits as you go.

One additional idea to consider, however, is to proof read by reading backwards. In other words, you will start at the the very end of the document and read from right to left and from the bottom of the page to the top of the page.

I’ll tell you in advance it will be laborious.

However, your brain will not automatically glide over tricky mistakes that standard proof-reading will miss — like someone who has accidentally typed the word “the” back-to-back consecutively in a sentence. (For example, did you catch that “mistake” at the end of the first line and the beginning of the second line in the 2nd paragraph above?)

If you didn’t, don’t feel bad — most people will miss that mistake when simply reading. But if you proofread documents backward, you’ll catch such mistakes nearly every time.

= = = = = = = = = =

[NOTE: Thanks to Jen Halloran for catching the missing word "you" at the beginning of the first sentence in the last paragraph. The missing "you" has now been added to the sentence. Just another reminder that writers and editors must be ever vigilant.]

Should you use a spellchecker? Absolutely. Is it enough? Absolutely not.

Anytime you write or edit a new document, you need to check your spelling; in this regard, the spell-checker features of many leading software applications do a wonderful job . . . as far as they go.

Unfortunately, most spellcheckers do NOT include grammar functionality. As a result, you might correctly spell the word “their” when you really meant to use the word “there” or “they’re.”

Or you might make the near job-ending mistake I made in my first year as a public relations professional and type the term “pubic relations” when I intended to write “public relations.” (Yes, I left out the letter “L.”) And yes, I got mercilessly ribbed for my mistake.

That’s why spellchecking alone is insufficient: you must also proof read everything intended for public consumption, even if you only have one other person as the intended audience (such as in a private email).

Good proofreading will catch most of the mistakes that a spell check program will not. That’s why you need to do both.