Spell Check vs. Good old-fashioned proofreading
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of this: You write a document using MS Word or another word processing program, and you leave it up to the spell check feature to catch misspellings and typos. I think we are all guilty of this at one point or another.
Relying only on spell check is a recipe for disaster, and I think most readers out there would agree. But sometimes laziness overtakes us, so it’s good to remember that there is no substitute for good old-fashioned proofreading.
Spell check is still a useful tool…
I view spell check as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it does pick out and highlight misspelled words. This can be particularly useful for drafts of long documents when you want to be able to make quick corrections for easy errors (i.e. typos, etc).
I have often been surprised at the words I misspell. And when the offending word is highlighted, I’ll usually correct it before proceeding. Thus, when my document is finished, I’ll have to read it with a fine-tooth comb to check for errors that spell check cannot pick up.
…but still has its limits!
On the other hand, spell check is limited. It’s a computer program that follows a strict line of logic. And it can be wrong. For example, when I was taking a journalism class in college, I was working on an article and the spell check was telling me a particular word was wrong (sorry, I cannot remember the word). I pointed this out to the professor and she told me to rely on my brain, not a program written by Bill Gates.
Spell check is no substitute for proofreading
Even after a document has been spell checked, you still need to proofread your writing. Preferably, this should be done by a second (and even third) pair of eyes. By proofreading, you can pick the difference between "your" and "you’re" (for example), find incomplete sentences, paragraphs that don’t make sense, and make sure the overall "flow" of your writing makes sense.
How much do you rely on spell check? What other methods do you use for proofreading? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!
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