by Jane Winstead

Created on: April 11, 2009

My advice to writers is to read, reread and then read again and for goodness sake, don't forget to spell check. Many sophisticated writers make a mistake now and then. Once in awhile when reading a published novel by a well-known author, I find a misspelled word or a wrong word. Now I know that author knew better; the fault then has to be directed to the proofreader.

As I rate Helium articles I see many common mistakes, wrong words used in a sentence, skipped words and just plain misspelled words.

We all know when to use the word "their" and when to use the word "there." Yet, many authors use the word "there" such as "there car" instead of "their car." As I rate I find the misuse of both these words in many Helium articles. When I see this mistake I know that the author did not take enough time to proof their work. Spell check does not pick up misused words.

Another wrong word I see is "your" instead of "you're." I not only see this error in Helium articles but in business letters received in my office on a daily basis. Sometimes the mistake is made by a professional secretary who has been transcribing dictation for many years and knows better. She just did not proof the letter before it was given back to the writer for signature. When you use the word "your" in a sentence, reread the sentence and if it would work with "you are" you know you should have used "you're." Webster defines "your" as "of or relating to yourself" and "you're" simply as "you are."

The words "its" and "it's" are similarly misused. Unless you mean to say "it is" or "it has," for goodness sake just use "its." Keep in mind that just because "it's" has an apostrophe it does not mean it is a possessive.

I notice that many times when articles are being written in the first person the writer is not consistent in using a capital "I" but uses a small "i" occasionally. I know that this is simply a typo and the writer did not proofread to pick up the little errors.

If you are only writing a comment about someone else's article reread that before you post. It is always best to write an article, a comment or anything else that you cannot go back and edit in a word processing program (my preference is Word). You can do your spell check, your word count and proofread several times before posting or publishing. When I proofread my own work I am amazed at how many times I miss a word or use the wrong word. And yes, I do find a misspelled word, missing word or wrong word now and then in my work.

Formatting is very important in an article you plan to publish online. Once you submit your article for publication on Helium you have an opportunity to edit it. There should always be a hard return between paragraphs. If you do not see an extra line between paragraphs go back and correct it. It is much harder to read an article that does not have the hard return line break between the paragraphs. Misspelled and misused words detract from the value of the article. Many times when rating and each article is written equally well, my vote is based solely on the grammar, spelling, word use and formatting of an article.

I cannot stress enough the importance of proofreading your work. Each time I proofread my work I find something to change. I rewrite sentences that are awkward or do not read the way I meant the sentence to read. Another thing that is helpful to me is to print a hard copy of my article and proofread it before I publish it. I always find just one more thing to change or rewrite. Rating Helium articles has made me more aware of things to watch for in my own writings.

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